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Iran billionaire Babak Zanjani sentenced to death

Babak Zanjani (centre) arrives for trial in Tehran, 1 November 2015Billionaire Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani has been sentenced to death for corruption, justice officials say.
He was arrested in December 2013 after accusations that he withheld billions in oil revenue channelled through his companies. He denies the allegations.
Zanjani, 42, was convicted of fraud and economic crimes, a judiciary spokesperson said at a press briefing.
One of Iran's richest men, Zanjani was blacklisted by the US and EU for helping Iran evade oil sanctions.
Two others were sentenced to death along with him and all were ordered to repay embezzled funds. The ruling can be appealed.
Zohreh Rezalee, a lawyer for Zanjani, told the BBC the verdict was politically motivated and an appeal would be lodged.
"We believe that Babak Zanjani in this case is just a debtor," the lawyer said.

Who is Babak Zanjani?

  • Played a key role in helping Iran get around sanctions to sell oil abroad during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
  • From Dubai, he controlled a global network of more than 60 companies involved in everything from cosmetics to air travel and banking
  • Accused of impropriety after Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who pledged to tackle high-level corruption, became president in 2013
  • Born in Tehran, attended a Turkish university and became a driver for Iran's central bank head in 1999, when he started out in currency exchange
  • Said he was worth $13.5bn but was reported to have significant debts
Zanjani had acknowledged using a web of companies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Malaysia to sell millions of barrels of Iranian oil on behalf of the government since 2010.
Before his arrest, Zanjani had argued that international sanctions were preventing him from handing over $1.2bn still owed to the government.
But at his recent trial, prosecutors said he still owed the government more than $2.7bn in oil revenue.
He was taken into custody a day after President Hassan Rouhani ordered his government to fight "financial corruption", particularly "privileged figures" who had "taken advantage of economic sanctions" under the previous government.

'Corrupt parasites'

The trial, unusually, was held in public, AFP news agency reports.
In a 2013 interview with the BBC, Zanjani played down his political connections in Iran, saying: "I don't do anything political, I just do business."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN in 2012Image copyrightReuters
Image captionZanjani played a powerful middleman role selling oil under the government of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pictured)

Zanjani has said he is worth about some $13.5bn.
For years things worked well for the businessman who appeared in photos with some high-ranking officials and was not shy of showing off his wealth, such as private jets and luxury cars, Amir Azimi of BBC Persian reports.
But when the local media started to report on his wealth, he came under the spotlight and under suspicion.
The death sentence could have wider implications for Iran's economy, where many were involved in finding ways to avoid the sanctions, our analyst adds.
International sanctions on Iran were lifted in January after a watchdog confirmed it had complied with a deal designed to prevent it developing nuclear weapons.
Oil minister Bijan Zanganeh has urged foreign investors to avoid middlemen, whom he describes as "corrupt parasites".
Zanjani was convicted of "corruption on earth", the most serious offence in Iran's criminal code.
Other wealthy individuals have been executed after being found guilty of similar charges.
In May 2014, businessman Mahafarid Amir-Khosravi was hanged after being convicted of embezzling billions of dollars.

Facebook investigated over market-power abuse claims

FacebookGerman authorities are investigating Facebook for suspected abuse of its dominant market position.
The country's federal cartel office suspects the social network's privacy terms violate data protection laws.
It is looking into whether Facebook's "dominance" means those terms also constituted an abuse of market power. The formal probe is the first of its kind the social network has faced.
Facebook said it was confident it complied with the law.
"Dominant companies are subject to special obligations," said Andreas Mundt, the president of the cartel office.
"These include the use of adequate terms of service as far as these are relevant to the market
Facebook"For advertising-financed internet services such as Facebook, user data are hugely important.
"For this reason, it is essential to also examine under the aspect of abuse of market power whether the consumers are sufficiently informed about the type and extent of data collected."
His investigation would focus on Facebook's US operation, as well as its German and Irish subsidiaries, the cartel office said in a statement released on Wednesday.
It said Facebook was dominant in the social media market and relied on advertising revenues generated on the basis of a "large amount of personal user data".
And users had to agree to this collection of data as a condition of their being able to use the network.
"It is difficult for users to understand and assess the scope of the agreement accepted by them," it said.
"There is considerable doubt as to the admissibility of this procedure, in particular under applicable national data protection law.
"If there is a connection between such an infringement and market dominance, this could also constitute an abusive practice under competition law."Mark ZuckerbergA Facebook representative said: "We are confident that we comply with the law, and we look forward to working with the Federal Cartel Office to answer their questions."
The German authorities are working in "close contact" with the European Commission, the competition authorities of the other EU member states and data and consumer protection officers.
European Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said the EU executive shared the view of the German cartel office that the mere infringement of data protection rules by a dominant company did not automatically amount to a competition violation.
"However, it cannot be excluded that a behaviour that violates data protection rules could also be relevant when investigating a possible violation of EU competition rules," he added, while declining specific comment on the new case.
Speaking in Germany in January, the European commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager said her agency was taking a harder look at whether the collection of vast amounts of consumer data by big internet companies violated competition rules.

Somali plane 'was holed by bomb' after Mogadishu take-off


A blast that punched a large hole in the fuselage of a passenger plane at Somalia's Mogadishu airport on Tuesday was caused by a bomb, officials say.
"It was a bomb that exploded in the Daallo Airlines flight. It was meant to kill all aboard," Transport Minister Ali Ahmed Jamac said.
One passenger was sucked out of the plane and died, and two other passengers were injured.
The Djibouti-bound Airbus 321 was forced to make an emergency landing.
Some reports suggest that an explosive device may have been hidden inside a laptop of one of the passengers.
The blast happened shortly after take-off from the Somali capital.
No militant group has so far said it was behind the explosion.
In a statement shortly after the incident, Daallo Airlines said an investigation was launched by Somalia's Civil Aviation Authority, as well as a technical team from the aircraft's owners and its manufacturers, Airbus.
Mohamed Hassan, a police officer in Balad, an agricultural town 30km (18 miles) north of Mogadishu, said residents had found the body of a man who might have fallen from the plane.
Serbian captain Vlatko Vodopivec said at the time he and others were told the explosion was caused by a bomb.
"It was my first bomb; I hope it will be the last,'' Mr Vodopivec said. He said the blast happened when the plane was at around 11,000ft (3,350m).
"It would have been much worse if we were higher," he added.
Daallo Airlines flies regularly from its base in Dubai to Somalia and Djibouti.
Somalia is battling militant Islamist group al-Shabab that has been carrying out deadly attacks in its quest to establish an Islamic state.
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