Iran’s authorities have sentenced 15 defendants over $6.6 billion embezzled from the country’s vital petrochemical industry — but they may have protected important people within the Iranian system from any trial, let alone punishment.

On September 5, the named defendants were sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison. However, as none were in custody at the time, some have managed to flee Iran.

More significantly, IranWire has obtained the 2,000-page judgement, issued by the Special Corruption Coourt judge. The document points to the high-profile men — several of them from the Intelligence Ministry — implicated but never tried over embezzlement.

Directors of the Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company, nominally privatized in 2009, were accused of using shell companies to withhold billions of dollars of foreign currency. They put the money in foreign enterprises or converted it to Iranian rials, making a large profit on the transaction because of the difference between Iran’s official-market and open-market rates.

The original indictment listed 129 suspects, but only 29 cases proceeded.

Among those who were initially charged, but then had cases dropped, are Ali Naghi Khamoushi, the CEO of Iran Investment Company, the parent firm of the Petrochemical Commercial Company, and his nephew Abolhassan Khamoushi, the chairman of the board at both IIC and PCC.

The elder Khamoushi became the main shareholder of a multitude of development and energy companies during the privatization campaign in the early 21st century.

Jalil Sobhani, the CEO of the major petrochemical firm SPEC and a shareholder of Iran Investment Company, was also shielded from further proceedings. So were:

*Siamak Nazarinejad, the Intelligence Ministry’s representative to the petrochemical industry;

*Seyed Mansour Saleh Ebrahimi, an employee of the Intelligence Ministry;

*Seyed Reza Bagheri, director-general of the Intelligence Ministry’s Bureau of Fuel, Energy and Economic Affairs;

*Rasoul Lahijanian and Masoud Forouzandeh, former Intelligence Ministry staff;

*Naser Enayati, chief inspector of Iran’s General Inspection Office for the National Petrochemical Company and its affiliates;

*Majid Tajdari, an employee of the General Inspection Office;

*Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, a four-time Cabinet minister, including Industry Minister from 2013 to 2017.

Leading executives of other companies were investigated but not indicted: Alireza Ghalambor Dezfuli, CEO of network provider Irancell, in which Iran’s armed forces are a major shareholder; Ferdinand Moolman, chief operating officer of MTN Group at Irancell; and Ebrahim Mahmoudzadeh, chairman of Irancell’s board of directors.

IranWire has promised more revelations in further articles drawing from the 2,000-page judgement.