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NDFI Denies Gov't Withdrew $4.1b

NDFI Denies Gov't Withdrew $4.1b
NDFI Denies Gov't Withdrew $4.1b

The director of the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) rejected recent reports that the government has illegally withdrawn around $4.1 billion from the fund’s account.

On the sidelines of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Safdar Hosseini told the press that the supervisory mechanism of the fund is so powerful that no agency or organization – and not even the government itself – can withdraw from it without being legally allowed to do so.

Hosseini emphasized that the government has not made any illegal withdrawals from the fund, and that it hasn’t even requested to legally take any money from the NDFI.  He said that the balance sheets of the central bank are being checked monthly by NDFI, and that the reported $4.1-billion withdrawal is nowhere in the records or on the balance sheets of the CBI.

The supervisory board of the NDFI consists of the state’s attorney, the head of the General Inspection Office, director of the Supreme Audit Court of Iran, said Hosseini, who supervises all of the fund’s operations.

Saying that the fund is only permitted to finance the private sector and the cooperatives to a certain extent, Hosseini added that the NDFI is assigned to pay $24.4 billion in foreign exchange loans during the current fiscal year. The amount has been approved by the supervisory board of the fund.

“Any government withdrawal from the fund will need the permission of the parliament and the Leader,” he asserted.

Recently, report came out of the parliament about a large withdrawal of money from the NDFI by the government, which was later described by the government’s spokesman to be “wrong.”

Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said the figure was actually related to the revenues earned from selling oil through a UAE company, which later failed to clear its debts. However, Nobakht clarified that the two sides arrived at a repayment schedule and that the government handed the funds back to the central bank.

Financialtribune.com