Existence of a Commerce Committee in the Ministry of Defence and who comprised it; procedures to be followed by employees of Ministry of Defence in order to report corruption (1990 - 2000) [IRN33661.E]

No information on a Commerce Committee in the Ministry of Defence, nor of the procedures to be followed by employees of Ministry of Defence in order to report corruption, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In correspondence dated 18 January 2000 a Professor of Political Science at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, who specializes in Iranian politics and is a past Executive Director of the Center for Iranian Research and Analysis (CIRA), wrote:

I do not have any specific information on the "Commerce Committee" within Iran's Ministry of Defence. Many Iranian ministries have traditionally engaged in various forms of business activities. However, business activities of government ministries that are unrelated to their immediate tasks have now become illegal.
I am not aware of any specific procedures to be followed by employees of the Department of Defence to report instances of corruption. Government directives encourage employees to report instances of corruption to their superiors, but I do not know if there are specific directives/procedures for Defence Department employees.

Article 173 of the Constitution of Iran provides:

In order to investigate the complaints, grievances, and objections of the people with respect to government officials, organs, and statutes, a court will be established to be known as the Court of Administrative Justice under the supervision of the head of the judiciary branch. The jurisdiction, powers, and mode of operation of this court will be laid down by law (28 July 1989).

With regard to "corruption," a 25 August 1995 AFP report refers to statements by "the secretary of the powerful Council of the Guardians, a legislative body that reviews laws passed by parliament" in which the ayatollah states:

If the Hezbollahi know of a case of corruption anywhere, or where someone is freely propagating Western culture and ideas, they have the right to act themselves if the authorities fail to do anything. ... Neither the police, nor the courts, nor any authority has the right to oppose them. "His comments came after five militants, claiming to be government officials, set fire to a Tehran bookshop ... accusing it of selling anti-Islamic books."

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Reference


Agence France Presse (AFP). 25 August 1995. "Hardliners Fighting Western Corruption Above the Law: Ayatollah." (NEXIS)

Islamic Republic of Iran. 28 July 1989. The Constitution of The Islamic Republic of Iran. http://www.netiran.com/laws.html [Accessed 1 Feb. 2000]

Professor of Political Science, Spring Hill College, Mobile Alabama. 18 January 2000. Correspondence.

Additional Sources Consulted


IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

REFWORLD

Resource Centre. Iran country file. January 1994 - December 1995; September 1997 - January 2000.

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Middle East Times

Search engines including:

HotBot

Metacrawler