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Misunderstood? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Photo: Reuters

Iran looks into missing $1B in oil money

Tehran's National Audit Office finds considerable funds missing from Treasury. Tehran parliament demands official inquiry; aide to President Ahmadinejad says case a 'misunderstanding'

Iran's parliament speaker has called for an investigation following a report by the national audit office suggesting some $1 billion in surplus oil income failed to be deposited in treasury.

 

In a potentially embarrassing development for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before a June election, the audit report cited by local media said $1.058 billion in oil revenue in the 2006-07 budget year, had not been transferred to the treasury.

 

In the past three years, Iran ran a surplus of oil revenues due to an increase in crude prices. According to the law, any additional oil income must be transferred to the treasury or the foreign exchange reserves.

 

An Ahmadinejad aide told Reuters there was a possible "misunderstanding" and that the issue should be reviewed to see whether it was correct or not.

 

The report by the National Audit Office, which is headed by a former interior minister who was replaced by Ahmadinejad last year, was submitted to parliament's budget commission and read out in the legislature on Wednesday.

 

"In the energy section of this report it has been mentioned that $1 billion of extra oil income has not been returned to the country's public treasury," speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by the Sarmayeh newspaper.

 

"The National Audit Office should seriously follow up the cases where there have been deviations from the implementation of the law or non-implementation of the law. I urge our colleagues to consider appropriate legal methods to prevent diversion in the budget," said Larijani, a conservative who has often criticized government policy.

 

Asked to comment on the media report also carried by other newspapers, close Ahmadinejad aide Aliakbar Javanfekr said: "Relevant organizations should review this issue to see whether it is correct or not because it is possible that there is a misunderstanding."

 

Iranian reformists frequently accuse Ahmadinejad's government of squandering an oil revenue windfall when crude prices were soaring and leaving public finances vulnerable in times like now when they tumble.

 

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, earned about $70 billion from crude export sales in the 2007-08 year.

 

Sarmayeh said Larijani asked parliament's budget commission to use the audit report when reviewing the 2009-10 budget bill and to find solutions that would prevent a repeat in future.

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied reports that his government had illegally withdrawn funds from the foreign exchange reserves, just last month.

 

"No one in the country has the right to illegally spend even one dollar from the reserve," said President Ahmadinejad. "All government spending should be approved by parliament. We cannot withdraw from the reserves whenever we want."

 

Dudi Cohen contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.06.09, 09:24
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