RUTHIE BLUM:BEHIND THE MULTI BILLION DOLLAR MULLAH
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6313
Move over, Bill Gates. There’s somebody out there stealing your title as the richest man in the world. Unlike you, however, he has been keeping his fortune close to his chest. Or so he thought, until it was revealed by Reuters on Monday.
Yes, your net worth of $76.2 billion pales in comparison to the wealth of your newly discovered competitor, whose assets are estimated at in excess of $95 billion. And this guy didn’t even have to earn it by the sweat of his brow. All he had to do was pray to Allah. Oh, and rob thousands upon thousands of people of their property.
Nor did he get sent to jail, like the folks at Enron or Bernie Madoff, in case you’re wondering. Of course not. But that’s because in his country, the Islamic Republic of Iran, he’s the one who determines all matters of crime and punishment. In fact, he has the last word on just about everything. But then, he’s the turbaned head honcho, the mullah who controls everything in Iran, from women’s fashion to uranium enrichment.
That Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has a stranglehold on the government is not exactly news. Even the ostriches in the United States and Europe have come to acknowledge his immense power. This is why they took heart in the green light he gave to President Hasan Rouhani to engage in negotiations with the West about Iran’s nuclear program. And though it is true that Khamenei and Rouhani are on the same page where these talks are concerned, it is not a page from the book that the fantasists are reading.
What was not known about Khamenei, however, was his grip on more than mere governmental and godly issues. Thanks to an in-depth, six-month investigation by Reuters, we are now aware of the chief mullah’s money-grubbing.
The laundromat through which Khamenei has been funneling the spoils of his war on his citizenry is an organization called “Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam” — the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam. According to the report, “The name refers to an edict signed by the Islamic Republic’s first leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, shortly before his death in 1989. His order spawned a new entity to manage and sell properties abandoned in the chaotic years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.”
Very quickly, this organization became another arm of Khamenei’s fiefdom. Rather than selling abandoned properties, “Setad” seized and sold homes and other assets belonging to Iranian citizens and pocketed the profits. Khamenei is the key beneficiary.
Because he also controls the courts, “Setad” was given a court-ordered monopoly on seizing property on his behalf.
If you’re wondering why such a “modest” cleric, famous for his threadbare carpets and simple style of dress, needs to keep amassing so much cash, you’re not alone. One explanation, other than pure greed, is that money enables Khamenei to conduct his internal and external affairs of state above and beyond the fray.
Furthermore, controlling his country’s purse strings is crucial when it comes to Khamenei’s ability to terrorize people and politicians alike. It is no accident, then, that “Setad” now has its corrupt claws in every sector of Iranian society. It is like Big Brother on steroids.
Exposing Khamenei’s massive riches is critical, and not for the purpose of upstaging you in Forbes Magazine, Mr. Gates. It is yet further proof that all endeavors to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons through diplomacy — or sanctions — are pointless. Khamenei will never relinquish his hegemonic goals. And he doesn’t give a damn if innocent Iranians starve to death in the process.
Ruthie Blum is the author of “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.'”
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