Iranian anger at elite corruption grows as sanctions bite | Financial Times

Iranian anger at elite corruption grows as sanctions bite | Financial Times:

Iran’s currency crisis has left ordinary citizens enduring soaring living costs, but prosecutors allege that corrupt business people have turned it into a moneymaking opportunity.

In one case the name of a dead person was used to import 10,500 mobile phones using foreign currency issued at Iran’s favourable official rate. In another an unskilled worker thought to be someone else’s pawn managed to buy 38,000 gold coins from the central bank at below-market rates.

Both examples are likely to be aired by Tehran’s state prosecutors when dozens of businessmen go on trial for “economic disruption”. The first cases began on Sunday when three mobile phone importers appeared in court. The hearings are the first in about two decades to be given high-profile broadcast slots on state television. Their prominence reflects the regime’s desire to show it is tackling graft as public anger grows over what many Iranians believe is endemic corruption among their leaders and the business elite.