Vahid Mazloumin was aware of the unannounced circulars!

 Sedigheh Mousavi

The latest victim of the controversy of economic corruption in Iran was Vahid Mazloumin and one of his accomplices on charges of disrupting the Iranian coin and gold market, who were hanged in Tehran at dawn on November 14, 2018, along with his accomplice, Mohammad Esmail Ghasemi.

Vahid Mazloumin, 56 years old, known as the "Sultan of Coins", was active in Iran's foreign exchange and gold market for nearly three decades, and according to the testimony of some of his colleagues, he was considered one of the informants and trustees of his field for many years. The beginning of his corruption was also due to the political and economic turmoil of the Ahmadinejad era, and in fact, he was trying to gain a sense of the turbulent market in Iran.

A person like Vahid Mazloumin could only have been raised in the lap of a rentier and closed economy. An economy that is important can be undermined by the decisions of government managers and the circulars issued. In fact, the main trick of the oppressed was not to know the Iranian market, but to be aware of the government's directives. As some market participants have pointed out, Mr. Mazloumin has been ahead of other market players by having first-hand information from decision-making circles, and having access to draft of uncommunicated letters. He traded 1 billion tomans a day and 7 billion tomans a week.

He who had tasted the rentier economy more than anyone else, did not express remorse even after his arrest, and declared, "If you ask me if I have a chance to return to the market, which I don't have, I will do the same thing again." In the end, the oppressed were executed not on the charge of having access to the unannounced circulars, but for the crime of disrupting the market. If the Iranian market had not been disrupted, the oppressed could still be active. In fact, he was the last known victim of the rentier economy.

In the first session of Vahid Mazloumin's trial in September, Morteza Turk, the deputy prosecutor of Tehran, quoted him as saying: "Vahid Mazloumin said in the interrogation sessions that since 2013, if someone has sold me a dollar or if they give me a receipt if I bought a dollar from someone, I will accept it."

Related Note: Mr. Yousef Salami, the super special reporter of IRIB, how can you easily put your head on the pillow?