The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran has accepted to let the Ministry of Petroleum take over assets of billionaire Babak Zanjani who has been sentenced to death for embezzlement.
“The Prosecutor’s Office, as per the most recent views of a team of experts, agreed with the transfer of the convict’s assets worth 20 trillion rials ($642 million) to the Ministry of Petroleum,” Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dowlatabadi said.
Prosecutors had accused Zanjani of owing the government more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum and not returning the money.
In March, the court of first instance convicted Zanjani and two accomplices of "spreading corruption on earth," and sentenced them to death. The three defendants were also ordered to repay funds embezzled from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and other state organizations, Press TV reports.
