Iran Paper Urges Parliament to Keep Close Watch on State Spending
Text of editorial headlined “Undocumented, and now without permission” published by Iranian newspaper Aftab-e Yazd website on 2 February
Three days ago, the news website Alef carried a strange report, which led to an immediate response or explanation from government officials. This website is cited in media circles as close to Ahmad Tavakkoli, the head of the parliamentary research center. It described the consultations at a recent meeting of the [parliamentary] convergence committee, which seemed to address the Oil Ministry’s performance in the area of petrol importation.
Information from the meeting reveals that the amount of petrol imported by the government to the end of the month of Dey totaled to around 3.7bn dollars, while parliament had given permission for no more than 2.4bn dollars for the entire year of 86 [2007].
The information published by the principle-ist website Alef reveals two important facts for the public and media to judge. The first, of importance for the sum involved, is the importation of 1.3bn dollar’s worth of petrol without parliamentary permission and merely on the president’s orders. This was revealed even though the president has announced the government has not been allowed to spend a dollar outside the 27bn dollar budget approved by parliament. Clearly, in such conditions one cannot bypass a website’s report on the expenditure of 1.3bn dollars. Likewise, in pursuing this report one can find answers to various questions raised and to claims made in recent months, which would allow the public to know the origins of the present balance of the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund, monies withdrawn with parliamentary permission and its difference with the country’s oil revenues. However, there is another matter, which unless addressed, will lead to the withdrawal of monies from the treasury without public representatives knowing about them, this year and in coming years and by this and future governments. This will not only institutionalize disrespect for the law but open channels for abuse and corruption, which may be more difficult to close than fighting the so-called oil mafia!
The website Alef has reported that when Oil Ministry officials presented a report on the importation of petrol in 86 – presumably to obtain the go-ahead for petrol importation in 87 – it became clear the amount of petrol imported in the first ten months of 86 was about 1.3bn dollars (about 1,250 billion tumans) more than the amount permitted for the 12 months of that year. It appears that Members of Parliament were unaware of this excess until Oil Ministry officials informed them of it. So, when faced with this report, “they asked government representatives in surprise how and with which legal permission the government had imported more petrol.” [punctuations as published here and throughout] The representatives were surprised, but more so when they were told, “this was done using Oil Ministry internal funds, on the president’s instructions.”
Of course, it is not clear to this writer whether the State Audit Court believes it has a duty here and if it will simply overlook this considerable sum because the head of the court declared last year that officials of the ninth government were decent and honest people. There may be a reminder here for representatives that had not failed to strictly carry out their duties on certain previous occasions, indifference to parliament’s supervisory rights would not have gone so far as to allow a principle-ist-affiliated website to report that the government has spent 1.9bn dollars [as published] by the end of the year.
If MPs had not ignored requests to investigate the expenditure of 350bn tomans in the Tehran municipality without any documentation or receipts, they would not be surprised now that four times the famous 350bn [tomans]-sum has been spent. Moreover, today, if representatives do nothing but express surprise or if their surprise prompts nothing but regret, state officials will simply acknowledge the regret without feeling remorse and carry on with their activities with peace of mind.
One may repeat here the question of our editorial from two days ago: Did the people merely expect their parliament to have a quiet podium and presidium or to show it has the strength to carry out its prerogatives? Without the exercise of parliamentary prerogatives, can one transmit the confidence to society that it may rest assured its representatives will keep an open eye, and with open hands and a frank discourse make sure nobody breaks the law?
The president promised the public in the first weeks of petrol restrictions that the money saved from reduced imports would be spent on completing road-building projects. He also proposed in a public speech that part of the savings would be spent on expanding an unemployment benefits system. Today, the people are not receiving any reports on the implementation of these promises but their representatives are surprised to hear that 1.3bn dollar’s worth of extra petrol has been imported without any legal permit and merely on the president’s instructions. Representatives should be sure that if they do not carefully follow up the matter, they can expect to be surprised again and repeatedly, by state officials – just as the failure to examine undocumented spending at the Tehran Municipality led to “surprising” initiatives!
Originally published by Aftab-e Yazd website, Tehran, in Persian 02 Feb 08.
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