September 15, 2003

Agha-Zadeh

The mess surrounding Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani's latest nastiness is becoming a bigger story and naturally a liability for the pious government of the Supreme Leader. Mehdi, son of the real powerhouse behind the Iranian regime; former President Akbar Rafsanjani, is one of the elite group of well-connected people surrounding regime's hierarchy, known for their corrupt financial dealings. Nicknamed Aghazadeh-ha or "noble off-springs", most Iranians are familiar with tales of their pre-occupation with acquiring riches beyond most of our dreams by involving themselves in every facet of business, from mining and natural resources to transportation and manufacturing. It has reached such levels that nearly all medium or large business ventures have been forced to partner with one Aghazadeh or another, just to enjoy the protection they offer and the way their names can open doors. Rafsanjani's sons are at the top of this corrupt pyramid, regularly using bribery, force and other means to achieve their goals.

Mehdi is so blatant he even represents his dad's bloc in talks with U.S. representatives. This time he apparently took $15.5M from the Norwegian oil company in exchange for arranging lucrative contracts for them in Iran. The accusations have become so serious, at least one of Statoil's directors has already resigned over the revelations. This is nothing new for this gang, but it may be the first time a foreign news media became aware of the details and published them to expose both sides.

So sad for a regime that came to power with promises of ending years of corruption by Shah's regime and within two short decades managed to outperform Shah's most productive thieves many times over. But then again, look where all that got Shah and his cronies. Aghazadeh-ha's turn is coming.

Posted by Pedram at September 15, 2003 09:19 PM
Comments

Does anybody with any certainty know how much aghazadeh's have taken in the last two dacade? I can't, and really it doen't matter. For that matter we still are disbuting how much shahzadeha stole and took from our national coffers. Shahs or Aghas are products of a closed society. What needs to happen here is to gradualy and continiously shatter all the myths drapping most of fellow Iranians sense of being and rality. This needs to be done from bottom up and sure could help the situation if there is some movement top down as well.

In short talk to that distant relative of yours that still thinks imam mehdi is coming, his/her daughter must be virgin unitl marrage while his/her son must show that he is man.....and so on!!!!

Once we clear the fog around ourselves (most of the 70 million) these two bit shahzadeha or aghazadeha will vanish without a trace...

Posted by: Ali at September 16, 2003 09:17 PM