MNA – Intelligence forces in Kurdistan province have dismantled a criminal ring involved in taking advantage of government's foreign currency reserves, according to a statement by Intelligence Ministry on Monday.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Intelligence Ministry reported the dismantling of a criminal network on charges of economic corruption, and the arrest of 11 key members of the ring.

According to the statement, the network had taken 47 trillion rials (roughly $1.2 billion) of the government's foreign currency reserves under the false pretext of importing necessity goods, but instead invested the amount in some other countries.

The ring had received foreign currency by bribery, using commercial cards (government licences for import/export) of front companies, forging pre-invoices for registering an order for the import of necessity goods, and blindsided banks from following up on where the foreign currency credits had been put to use.

On Dec. 25, the Ministry had also reported the arrest of 17 members of a criminal network involved with registering orders for importing goods with bogus documents, and using government's foreign currency reserves for their own personal uses.