Gov't to Enforce Transparency in State Entities

The two-year-old law requiring economic entities affiliated to non-departmental public bodies to make their financial statements transparent will be put into effect in the current Iranian month (started May 22), the chairman of Parliament Economic Commission announced.

The non-departmental public bodies include municipalities, economic enterprises of the army and police, as well as state institutions, such as the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Directive and Mostazafan Foundation.

Stating that a number of the country’s 7,000 charities operate large businesses without filing financial statements, Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi added that Iran Securities and Exchange Organization is required to release the financial statements of these institutions under the law, IRNA reported.

"Banks and company registration offices are required to cut ties with such institutions, if they fail to release their financial statements," he said.

“Today the biggest challenge facing Iran's economy is corruption. Hurdles in the way of economic operators won’t be cleared, if we fail to improve financial transparency. Iran has been ranked 132nd out of 167 countries in the latest report by Transparency International, which is not good at all.”

Earlier this month, Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri said rampant corruption has struck major blows to national interests and highlighted the need for promoting transparency across all sectors.

"Corruption is one of the major problems of the country. It has hampered the development of national economy," he added.

The government of President Hassan Rouhani hopes to exploit the prospects emerging after the removal of economic sanctions under the 2015 nuclear agreement to attract foreign investment for revitalizing the crippled economy of Iran.

The vice president says corruption is partly to blame for lack of domestic and foreign investment.

"Corruption deters investors. When they observe that some have amassed huge wealth overnight by pulling strings while others have not achieved even a fraction of that fortune after years of toiling, they lose motivation," he said.

"Foreign investors hold back from a country plagued with corruption and the private sector steers clear of [such a market]."

Jahangiri noted that for eliminating corruption, all bodies should be subjected to strict oversight to ensure complete transparency.

"If we are to root out corruption, all the system's bodies need to act transparently," he said.