On May 20, the news of Iranian regime president Ebrahim Raisi’s demise was published amidst a wave of jubilation and joy among the people. The families of the martyrs of the 1988 massacre and the martyrs of nationwide uprisings celebrated the death of their children’s murderer by distributing sweets.
At the same time that the regime was faced with a mass boycott of its sham elections, its internal crises intensified, and the cesspool of corruption and astronomical theft by its officials became public. The extent was such that the Judiciary was compelled to sentence Raisi ‘s Minister of Agriculture, Javad Sadati-Nejad, to three years in prison for his involvement in the multi-billion-rial theft in the Debsh tea scandal. This minister, when his role in the Debsh corruption was exposed in factional infighting, was forced to resign, and Raisi even thanked him for his “services.”
By exposing Raisi’s role in the Debsh corruption scandal, on May 18, the state-run Ham-Mihan newspaper, in an article titled, “The government is trying to divert public opinion from the Debsh tea case,” designated him as the primary culprit in “diverting public opinion.”
The state-run Setareh Sobh newspaper also wrote, “The question is, what is the status of the Debsh tea case? Rent-seeking, embezzlement, and economic corruption are weakening the state, not the opinion of a university professor.”
Earlier, Asr-e-Iran news website had published an article titled “It was not just ‘corruption’, there was also ‘crime’”, which stated: “In 2020 [during Raisi’s tenure as head of the Judiciary], the police became suspicious of a truck belonging to this company. After testing the tea in this truck, it was found that the product was from 20 years ago and, due to spoilage, contained the dangerous toxin aflatoxin, which can cause tissue necrosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and stomach cancer. It is regrettable that even after this incident, the allocation of billions in foreign currency to Debsh continued.”
In the meantime, some have set aside courtesies and, referring to Raisi’s collusion with the ” Debsh ” mafia since before his presidency.
On May 15, the state-run Ham-Mihan newspaper quoted them, as saying, “Why did Mr. Raisi use special powers and even execute some individuals known as the ‘Coin Sultan’ and other similar titles, during his tenure as head of the Judiciary, but not when it came to his supporters in the elections? Not only did they not leak the slightest news, but instead of dismissing him, they accepted his resignation and continued to benefit from his advice?”
Ham-Mihan then brings up the main issue in the form of three meaningful questions: “What is the current position of the government? What is Raisi’s role in the Debsh tea case? Why is there no information released about this case?”
This was just one example of the corruption and crime that Raisi tried to cover up with utter impudence and lies, until it was exposed in a factional dispute.
On May 18, Tazeh News website quoted a regime expert as saying, “Raisi lies even more easily than [former president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. The President participates in a showy program and interview with notorious individuals, and the interviewer praises and lauds the President instead of questioning and challenging him. When the head of state gives false statistics on television without evidence, saying that inflation was 60 percent when he took office, it is natural that his Interior Minister would hail an eight percent voter turnout as an epic achievement.”
This is just a fragment of the corruption and plunder perpetrated by Raisi, of which the Debsh Tea case is just one example, which according to Entekhab “can change the direction of a country’s economy!”
Asr-e-Iran news website wrote, “The Debsh Agro-Industrial Group received nearly $3.4 billion in foreign currency for importing tea and machinery between 2019 and 2023, an amount of foreign currency that was enough to meet Iran’s 14-year need for tea. Eighty percent of this foreign currency was allocated to Debsh during the 13th government.”