Absurd Praise of the President Continues

Hamid Ahadi, Rooz Online:

While disapproval of the exaggerated praise for Iranian hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments and actions continue in Iran’s political rhetoric, members of the conservative wing of Iran’s ruling circles pursue their ludicrous praise of the president.

The latest remarks were made by Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the head of the state Audit Organization (Divan-e Mohasebat-e Keshvar), which working under Majlis (Iran's Parliament) supervision oversees the financial health and conditions of government agencies. Attributing his remarks to a ‘foreigner’, Rahimi said that if a prophet was to follow Prophet Muhammad that would be president Ahmadinejad. READ MORE

In a public address at a seminar participated by managers of the Audit Organization, Rahimi blatantly declared that the harsh attitude of the organization was only directed at the performance of the previous administration (of president Mohammad Khatami), adding that the AU was at the service of president Ahmadinejad.

Rahimi said that he had announced and predicted last year, in the presence of the current Majlis (Iran's Parliament) leader Haddad Adel, that under the new administration that was taking over from Khatami there would be less corruption and violations. ‘I presented Haddad Adel with a report of the financial violations of the previous administration then. I will not present new statistics to you today because I am confident that your cabinet that comprises dedicated members has significantly less violations than in the past.

Rahimi gained national prominence when during the presidential elections of 1997 ballot boxes in Kurdistan province of which he was the governor-general were found to contain more votes than the actual population of the province. He claimed they all belonged to presidential candidate Nategh Nouri. Years later, he was appointed by ultra-conservative ayatollah Janati to head the elections commission at the Guardians Council. This office eventually employed some 200,000 individuals to oversee and supervise the subsequent national elections. Following his stint there, he was later appointed to the State Audit Organization. In that capacity, he charged many managers of government business entities who were active during former president Khatami’s presidency of embezzlement and other financial fraud, none of which were proved in legal and court proceedings. His charges went so far that he claimed to have prevented the embezzlement of some $200 billion, a claim that made headlines in the conservative Keyhan newspaper, among other right-wing media outlets. During the Majlis (Iran's Parliament) hearings on the oil ministry candidate, however, it came to light that the claims that Rahimi had made were completely baseless.