Iran Court Tries 13 in $7 Billion Petrochemical Fraud Case: Mehr

Photographer: Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images

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The trial has started in an Iranian court for 13 petrochemical industry executives charged with embezzling 6.6 billion euros ($7.4 billion) in one of the nation’s biggest corruption cases, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The defendants, most either chief executives or board members of Iranian petrochemical producers and exporters, are accused of “causing a great economic disturbance” by establishing shell companies overseas to circumvent sanctions imposed while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was president, judge Assadollah Masoudi Magham said, according to IRNA.