TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran’s attorney general on Wednesday hit out at Canada for having become a safe haven for embezzlers.
Muhammad Jafar Montazeri, speaking to a conference in Tehran, urged Canadian authorities not to let their country’s image be tarnished by cheats being given asylum in Canada.
Montazeri touched on good coordination between Iran’s Interpol and the judiciary, saying the problem lies outside the country where governments hostile to Iran refuse to catch and return embezzlers to the Islamic Republic for trial.
"Unfortunately, some individuals misappropriate people’s property and flee to Canada,” he said.
His remarks came after members of the Iranian-Canadian community signed a petition against two Iranian embezzlers who are now living in Canada after escaping justice in Iran.
They said the Canadian government must launch investigation against fugitive financial criminals Mahmoud Reza Khavari and Marjan Sheikholeslami Ale-Agha.
Khavari, a former Iranian banker, fled to Canada after embezzling billions of dollars in 2011. He has been sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison and has an Interpol warrant issued against him in 2017.
Sheikholeslami’s case came recently to light in Iran, where she stands accused in a $10 million corruption case. The former journalist has reportedly invested in properties in Canada.