How companies \u201cprivatized\u201d under Ahmadinejad\u2019s scheme only serve state-backed owners<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Doublethink investigation identifies bonyad-linked oil companies as part of Iran\u2019s failed Justice Shares scheme<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2008 Iran\u2019s lower house, the Majlis, has been questioning the integrity of a government-led privatization scheme known as Justice Shares (sahame edalat). The program, launched during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\u2019s presidency with the stated aim of redistributing the country\u2019s wealth among its most vulnerable, oversaw the privatization of 40 percent of shares of the country\u2019s top-performing state-owned oil companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, according to Iran\u2019s media reports, the Justice Share scheme has enriched corrupt public officials and their families without benefiting those it was meant to serve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For over a decade, Majles MPs have been launching a series of half-hearted investigations into the misappropriation of Justice Shares. The ongoing investigations have reaped little results, but one official\u2014 Ali Ashraf Abdollah-Pouri Hosseini, the head of the Iran Privatization Organization\u2014has been barred from leaving the country at the request of lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Justice Shares were a form of compensation for low-income individuals and other disadvantaged groups who qualify for government subsidies. They included welfare recipients, nomadic tribes and unemployed farmers, families of war veterans and retired government employees. In an effort to control the privatization process, the government prohibited recipients from selling the shares for ten years after obtaining them. Share prices have become so diluted they are deemed worthless, according to Iranian media reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government had originally aimed to privatize 60 profitable government-owned companies through a combination of Justice Shares distribution and initial public offerings on the Tehran Exchange. Many Iran observers say these privatization attempts turned out to be a de-facto exchange of hands from one government organization to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, some of the more lucrative state-owned oil companies were removed from the Justice Share program and replaced with less profitable ones, a move that the Majles has deemed illegal but has taken no steps to curtail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Doublethink investigation has identified the following bonyad-linked oil companies and refineries as linked to the Justice Share scheme. All these companies were at least partially privatized via Justice Shares, and some were later withdrawn from the scheme and replaced with less profitable ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Originally published by Doublethink Institute<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How companies \u201cprivatized\u201d under Ahmadinejad\u2019s scheme only serve state-backed owners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"issue":[],"article-type":[],"tb_section":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTop-earning oil companies privatized under the Justice Share scheme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Palayesh Naft Tehran <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Palayesh Naft Shiraz<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Fajr Petrochemical<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Khouzestan Petrochemical<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n