One hundred Iranian lawmakers have sought clarification from Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf regarding changes made in the budgetary tables after their final approval on March 16.
“Budgetary figures were surprisingly changed several times after being approved in the open session of the parliament. These changes were not restricted to budgetary tables; extensive changes were also made in the clauses and notes of the bill by the chairman of Majlis Joint Commission [Elias Naderan], a few members of the commission and individuals outside the parliament, without the knowledge of the other members of the commission,” IRNA cited the letter as reading.
The joint commission is a parliamentary body responsible for reviewing the budget bill as well as five-year economic development plans proposed by the government before its final ratification.
The budgetary tables notified to the government on April 14 include the following alterations, among thers:
The budget earmarked for parliament, which had been proposed by the government and approved by the parliament, was set at 6,320 billion rials, which figure has been increased by 56.8% to reach 9,910 billion.
The budget set for Majlis Research Center has increased by 24.7% from 1,210 billion rials to 1,510 billion rials. The budget envisioned for the Supreme Audit Court of Iran has increased from 8,170 billion rials to 8,670 billion rials.
Each dollar was exchanged at nearly 236,800 rials as of Tuesday.
The budget set for military institutions have increased significantly as well. Funding for arms purchases by the Islamic Republic of Iran Police, first set at 100 billion rials in the government’s proposal and later increased to 8,660 billion in the revised bill, has now jumped to 30,160 billion rials.
No budget had been allocated to “improvement of health and housing” of the Islamic Republic of Iran Police in the first place. The parliament has now allocated 400 billion rials and 3,000 billion rials to these budgetary sections.
Iran’s Plan and Budget Organization said on Sunday that as “the executive authority, it only carries out the law and is not aware of the changes”. The presiding board of Majlis Joint Commission has said they will be answerable at any time, any place for whatever ambiguities there may have been.
Members of the Iranian Parliament approved a new ceiling for the current fiscal year’s budget last month after the Guardians Council — the body in charge of ascertaining the constitutional and Islamic nature of all laws — called for fixing the flaws identified in their bill.
Legislators had cast 164 votes for and three votes against, while four abstained from voting.
