According to an Iranian news outlets, Tehran’s City Council is caught up in a corruption scandal involving Tehran real estate. Memari News reported Aug. 27 that it had acquired documents showing that 1,100,000 square meters of government-owned property, including apartments and villas, had ended up in the possession of various individuals, including government officials, sometimes sold at a 50% discount.

According to the article, the names of the individuals and the specific properties involved were leaked in a document from the General Inspection Office, which is linked to the judiciary. The General Inspection Office had reportedly written a letter to the mayor’s office and the Tehran City Council about the matter. Municipal officials and city council members were reportedly among the 250 individuals whose names appeared in the document.

Memari News reported that it is up to the General Inspection Office to determine whether laws have been broken. The article argued, however, that even if the General Inspection Office determines that no laws were broken, given the housing crisis in Tehran, the seven members of the city council must ask themselves, “With what moral and civil justifications can they give themselves these concessions?”
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This article was written by Arash Karami for Al-Monitor on Aug. 29, 2016. Arash Karami covers Iranian media for Al-Monitor.