The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Arrest of billionaire highlights political divisions in Iran
- Thai army to deploy more troops in capital ahead of vote
- Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue -Putin
| Arrest of billionaire highlights political divisions in Iran Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:31 PM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - While international sanctions have made life a struggle for many Iranians, they were a big break for businessman Babak Zanjani, who made a fortune helping the government evade the restrictions on oil sales. He also made enemies. A $40,000 watch on his wrist and a Tehran football club for a plaything, Zanjani shuttled to meetings on private jets, arranging billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies that stretched from Turkey to Malaysia, Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates, he said last autumn. "This is my work - sanctions-busting operations," he told Iranian current affairs magazine Aseman. Under the conservative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 39-year-old Zanjani was good enough at his work to amass a fortune of $10 billion - along with debts of a similar scale, he told Aseman - until he was arrested late last month. He is being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, accused of owing the government, under moderate new President Hassan Rouhani since August, more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry. Rouhani's government, which has struck a preliminary deal with the West to ease some sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear activities, has not said what specific charges are being investigated. But two days before Zanjani's arrest, Rouhani had written to his first deputy demanding action against sanctions profiteers. When announcing the arrest, a judicial spokesman said "he received funds from certain bodies ... and received oil and other shipments and now has not returned the funds" and that any violations would be addressed after the investigation. Zanjani has always denied any wrongdoing and says he only tried to do a service for the country. His office did not immediately return requests for comment. Analysts say Zanjani's connections with senior officials in Ahmadinejad's administration and in the Revolutionary Guards - a powerful branch of Iran's military with extensive business interests - have made him a political target. "The arrival of the new government played a big role in the downfall of Zanjani," said Fereydoun Khavand, an Iran expert and economist at the Paris Descartes University. "The issue of Zanjani and the broader issue of corruption has become a factional war between the reformists on one side and the conservatives on the other side." RAGS TO RICHES Zanjani's rise from market trader to billionaire middleman has become for many ordinary Iranians not a rags-to-riches inspiration but evidence of cronyism. "This is not about an individual. This is a collective where Babak Zanjani is the facade," said a factory owner in Tehran, to explain what he called the businessman's "unnatural growth". The collective that gave Zanjani his big opportunity was the Revolutionary Guards, which expanded its social, political and economic influence under Ahmadinejad, playing a major role during the 2009 presidential election and the suppression of protests after two defeated moderate candidates claimed the vote was rigged. The two have been under house arrest since 2011. In 2010, Zanjani began helping Khatam al Anbia, one of the largest companies controlled by the Guards, to evade financial sanctions. Zanjani says that the following year, when Rostam Qassemi, a former senior commander in the Guards, became oil minister, he asked Zanjani to sell oil and transfer money back to Iran. "Zanjani solved the problems of the Revolutionary Guards and Khatam al Anbia to a degree," said Esmail Gerami-Moghaddam, a reformist former member of parliament. If his proximity to the Guards discomfited the moderates, a political tussle in February last year made outright enemies of some of them when Ahmadinejad accused the brother of the Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, a long-time rival, of offering political favours in exchange for an introduction to Zanjani for business ventures. The brother denied the charges, and Ahmadinejad's rivals accused Zanjani of complicity in trying to smear Larijani and his family. In late December, with Ahmadinejad out of office, a dozen parliamentarians, most of them critics of the previous government, wrote a letter to Rouhani, Larijani and the head of the judiciary, accusing Zanjani of initiating an illegal $5.4 billion business deal, hanging on to money from oil sales to the oil ministry and demanding that corruption charges be pursued against him. Zanjani was arrested days later, and within a week a senior aide was also arrested. "Zanjani's arrest will probably be used as a vehicle by the faction supporting the Rouhani government to expose files against their opponents," Khavand said. That could explain why Zanjani's erstwhile supporters have kept their heads down since his arrest. "The hardline politicians and those affiliated with the former government who supported him behind the scenes cut their support," said Gerami-Moghaddam. If Zanjani has become a political target, he is also now a lightning rod for anger at the perceived corruption and economic mismanagement of the previous administration. But Zanjani is a symptom of a wider, systemic problem, said Khavand. "That we want to summarise the issue of corruption in the Islamic Republic to Zanjani or people like Zanjani is wrong," Khavand said. "The economic structure of Iran, along with its political structure and the lack of a free press, have allowed for the roots of extensive corruption to spread." |
| Thai army to deploy more troops in capital ahead of vote Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:30 PM PST BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army will increase the number of troops in the capital ahead of Sunday's election, which anti-government protesters say they will disrupt as part of their campaign to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The government's decision to press ahead with the February 2 election has inflamed tensions in the capital, Bangkok, where the protesters have blockaded main intersections and forced many ministries to close their doors this month. "In addition to the 5,000 soldiers we have already deployed in and around Bangkok to help monitor security, we will be increasing troops around protest sites as there are people trying to instigate violence," army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told Reuters. Around 10,000 police would be responsible for security in Bangkok on polling day and the soldiers would be on standby, he added. Demonstrators took to the streets in November in the latest chapter of an eight-year political conflict that pits Bangkok's middle class and southern Thais against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the army in 2006. The government imposed a state of emergency in the capital from January 22 to help maintain order. A protest leader sought a court ruling on the legality of the emergency and a civil court agreed on Thursday to hear the case. Ten people have died and at least 577 have been injured in politically related violence since November 30 according to the Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals. A protest leader was killed and around a dozen people were injured in a clash near a polling station during advance voting on Sunday in Bangkok. The protesters prevented early voting in many parts of Bangkok and the south. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban led a march in the capital on Thursday, the start of a three-day push to demonstrate opposition to the vote and rustle up support for its cause. He wants political reforms before an election is held, with the aim of eradicating the influence of Thaksin and his family. They have not said how they would do this. Yingluck's Puea Thai Party is expected to win the election comfortably. The main opposition Democrat Party is boycotting the vote. However, not enough candidates have been able to register to provide a quorum for parliament to elect a new government after the election. By-elections will have to be held to fill the vacant seats, which could leave the country without a properly functioning government for months. (Editing by Alan Raybould) |
| Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue -Putin Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:20 PM PST MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs. Putin repeated a promise to honour the lifeline agreement with Ukraine in full, but left open the timing of the next aid instalment as Kiev struggles to calm more than two months of turmoil since President Victor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union. A day after Prime Minister Myeloma Azarov resigned on Tuesday, hoping to appease the opposition and street protesters, Russia tightened border checks on imports from Ukraine in what looked like a reminder to Yanukovich not to install a government that tilts policy back towards the West. Ukraine's new interim prime minister promised to try to limit the economic damage inflicted by the sometimes violent street protests, and said he expected Russia to disburse a further $2 billion aid instalment "very soon". Putin had less of a sense of urgency. "I would ask the (Russian) government to fulfil all our financial agreements in full," he said, repeating a promise made on Tuesday after the government resigned in Kiev. However, he signalled that the latest instalment was on hold in remarks he made during a meeting with senior government officials, extracts of which were broadcast later on Russian TV. "Let's wait for the formation of a Ukrainian government," he said, before telling the meeting, "But I ask you, even in the current situation, not to lose contact with our (Ukrainian) colleagues," adding that discussions should continue before a new government is formed. Putin agreed to the aid package with Ukraine in December, throwing the ex-Soviet state a lifeline in what the opposition and the West regard as a reward for scrapping plans to sign political and trade deals with the EU and promising to improve ties with Russia. WESTERN ALARM Alarm about Ukraine is growing in the West. German Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned Putin and Yanukovich on Wednesday, urging a constructive dialogue between the government and opposition in Kiev. "The situation must not be allowed to spiral again into violence," a German government spokesman quoted her as saying. NATO Secretary General Andres Fog Rasmussen was more forthright, blaming Russia for Kiev's failure to sign the EU deals. "An association pact with Ukraine would have been a major boost to Euro-Atlantic security, I truly regret that it could not be done," he told the French newspaper le Figaro. "The reason is well-known: pressure that Russia exerts on Kiev. U.S. congressional aides said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama's administration was preparing financial sanctions that could be imposed on Ukrainian officials and protest leaders if violence escalates in the political crisis gripping the country. Obama referred to Ukraine in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, voicing support for the principle that all people have the right to free expression Lawmakers loyal to Yanukovich offered an amnesty to people detained in anti-government protests - but only if activists first vacate occupied public buildings in Kiev and elsewhere, a condition they previously rejected. Ukraine badly needs the Russian money. Figures compiled by UniCredit bank before the bailout put its gross external financing requirements at $3.8 billion in the first three months of this year alone, including $2.29 billion for gas that is covered by the deal with Moscow. That rises to $5.5 billion in April-June, including repaying a $1 billion bond that matures then. Altogether, the government would need $17.44 billion this year to pay its foreign bills, including for Russian gas. The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, called for sincere discussion during Ukraine's crisis. "The dialogue which has happened from time to time needs to become a real dialogue. We hope to see real progress in these coming days. Time is really of the essence," she said after meeting Yanukovich. RUSSIAN CHECKS In an apparent sign of further pressure from Moscow, the Ukrainian association of producers said Russia had started extra border checks, backed by demands for increased duties, on cargoes of food and machinery being shipped into the country by road and rail. Russia took similar action in August in what was seen as part of Moscow's campaign to dissuade its neighbour from signing the association and trade agreements with the EU. Ukraine has been gripped by mass unrest since Yanukovich walked away from the EU deals last November. Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of independent Ukraine, stressed the depth of the crisis on Wednesday. "The state is on the brink of civil war. We must call what is happening by its proper name. What is happening is revolution because we are talking about an attempt to bring about a change of power," he told parliament. With Yanukovich and loyalist deputies in parliament now making concessions to defuse the crisis and with Azarov, a Russian-born hardliner, gone there had been speculation that Moscow might slow or even halt the stream of aid. But acting Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov appeared to have been cheered by Putin's promise on Tuesday to extend the $15 billion in credits and cheaper gas. "We have already received the first tranche of $3 billion and expect to receive the second tranche of $2 billion very soon," he said, chairing his first Cabinet meeting. Russia is offering the funds by buying Ukrainian government bonds. BACK-ROOM TALKS In Kiev, opposition deputies and Yanukovich loyalists were in back-room talks on Wednesday over the wording of a draft law under which protesters detained by police would get amnesties. In an unusual move, Yanukovich himself went to parliament to intervene in the debate. There was no immediate response from protesters to the late-night passing of a law that would amnesty detainees if occupied buildings were first cleared. The opposition in parliament had abstained on the vote. Although the unrest began because of Yanukovich's U-turn on policy towards Europe, it has since turned into a mass demonstration, punctuated by violent clashes between radical protesters and police, against perceived misrule and corruption under Yanukovich's leadership. Several hundred people camp round-the-clock on Kiev's Independence Square and along an adjoining thoroughfare, while more radical activists confront police lines at Dynamo football stadium a few hundred metres away. Anti-Yanukovich activists have also stormed into municipal buildings in many other cities across the sprawling country of 46 million. Hundreds of protesters in Kiev have occupied City Hall and the main agriculture ministry building. Opposition leaders, including world champion boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, have resisted demands by Yanukovich's Regions Party for barricades to be removed from roads and for protesters to leave occupied buildings as a pre-condition for an amnesty for detained activists. Klitschko, in a comment that also highlighted the tenuous control the opposition leaders have over sections of the protest movement, said, "For us to simply say to people 'You have done your job, now go home' is now not possible." In a big concession to the opposition and the protest movement, pro-Yanukovich deputies voted on Tuesday to repeal a series of sweeping anti-protest laws they brought in hastily on January 16 in response to increasingly violent clashes. But opposition leaders, who also include former Economy Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok, have won a mandate from protesters on the streets to continue to press for further gains from Yanukovich. The opposition also wants a return to the previous constitution, which would represent another significant concession since it would reduce Yanukovich's powers. Speculation that Russia might cut the financial lifeline it has offered prompted the Standard & Poors agency to cut Ukraine's credit rating to CCC+ on Tuesday. Arbuzov said the central bank was ensuring stability on the financial markets and he made no mention of any changes to his predecessor's policy of keeping the hryvnia currency pegged close to the dollar and maintaining subsidies for domestic gas - both criticised by the International Monetary Fund. (Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Nicholas Vinocur in Paris, and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Richard Balmforth and Jack Stubbs; Editing by David Stamp, Alastair Macdonald and Peter Cooney) |
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