The Astronomical real estate controversy refers to a report by the General Inspectorate of the Republic of Iran, which revealed a series of transfers of several thousand billion rials worth of real estate to senior city managers and members of the Tehran City Council during Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf's tenure. The Memari News website, under the leadership of its editor Yashar Soltani, was the first to report that the Tehran Municipality had transferred properties in northern Tehran to various city managers, council members, a member of parliament, a police officer, and several officials and security personnel at extraordinarily discounted prices, often as much as 50% off the market rate. In many cases, the appraised values of the properties were also estimated to be lower than their actual worth. Additionally, the remaining 50% of the cost was paid through large loans with minimal repayments. Some members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly called for an investigation into the actions of the Tehran Municipality. On November 26, 2016, the Prosecutor-General of Iran announced that violations had occurred in the transfer of properties to 45 municipal and non-municipal managers who were not members of the cooperative, as well as to 150 individuals who received substantial discounts and 29 people outside the municipality who were given apartments.
In its September 3rd issue, Shargh newspaper published an article titled "2 trillion tomans in special discounts and installments," which Shahrvand newspaper referred to as âÂÂAstronomical housesâ in its September 27th edition. Several members of the Tehran City Council and Iranian media outlets accused the Tehran Municipality of violating regulations by selling its properties at "special discounts of more than 50 percent" to City Council members, municipal managers, some IRIB journalists, and members of the Judiciary Housing Cooperative, amounting to over two trillion tomans in total. Shahrvand also published an interview with Ahmad Hakimipour, a reformist member of the Tehran City Council, in which he revealed a "violation of 150 billion tomans" in the transfer of properties to some cooperatives, as well as a âÂÂviolation of 2,200 billion tomansâ in the sale of properties to individuals.
In its follow-up report on September 29, the Citizen newspaper also covered the story under the title "Astronomical houses." Subsequently, pro-government newspapers began to expose the transfer of properties worth thousands of billions of tomans from municipal administration to members of the city council and Tehran municipality employees.
According to the Ebtekar newspaper, the "irregular transfer of Tehran municipality properties to private individuals" was first reported in early September 2016 and generated significant public attention. However, hardline and conservative newspapers avoided covering the issue. Iran newspaper reported that Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf did not deny the allegations but described the transfers as a normal and legal process.
Pro-government newspapers also reported that Gholamreza Ansari, a member of the Tehran City Council, addressed the council during a meeting, revealing that the Tehran Municipality had transferred a number of its properties, public assets, to specific individuals at very large discounts and in installments. He also mentioned that the General Inspectorate of Iran was involved in investigating the case. Ansari expressed concern that the report from the General Inspectorate had not been shared with the council members and asked Chamran, the chairman of the Tehran City Council, to provide it to the rest of the members. Meanwhile, the Etemad newspaper criticized the government for focusing on disclosures without providing accurate and detailed information to the public.
On September 29, 2016, the Memari News website published a screenshot of a letter from the State Inspection Organization accusing the Tehran Municipality of "embezzlement, fraud, and the misuse of public funds" amounting to 2,200 billion tomans. According to the letter, Tehran Municipality had allocated land in northern Tehran to some of its managers, city council members, a member of parliament, a police officer, and several other officials and security guards at a 50 percent discount. The letter further stated that these lands were given to individuals at "very low (unrealistic) prices" and "with significant discounts ranging from at least 100 million to more than 1 billion tomans," with payments spread out over "60 month installments." It was also revealed that 200 apartments, villas, and plots of land owned by the Tehran Municipality had been sold for a total of 2,200 billion tomans, which was far below their original value.
On September 10, the Etemad newspaper reported under the headline "Municipality Under Investigation," stating that "reformist members of the city council submitted a plan to investigate the transfer of astronomical properties and called for the institution's involvement in the matter."
Mohammad Javad Haghshenas told Aftab News: "One case of Tehran Municipality's financial corruption is equivalent to a manager's astronomical 15-year salary." The article also quoted Memari News as publishing a letter from the country's General Inspectorate, along with a full list of individuals who had benefited from the astronomical discounts, detailing their names, amounts, and positions.
On Friday, September 12, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced that he had ordered an investigation into the alleged violations involving the municipality and the city council.
The Ta'bal newspaper reported on the "Tehran City Council's vote to investigate the municipality," noting that "the capital's city parliament voted on Sunday to urgently pass a bill that would enable the council to investigate and examine the Tehran Municipality's transfers to both natural and legal entities."
Two thousand cases of violations in the transfer
Mahmoud Mirlohi, a member of the Tehran City Council, emphasized in an interview with Etemad newspaper that the initial report on these properties mentioned the illegal transfer of 674 properties. However, after further investigation, the number grew to more than 2,000 properties, and the case of the "Astronomical properties" remains open. According to Mirlohi, Pirouz Hanachi, the mayor of Tehran, is expected to soon address the behind-the-scenes details regarding the transfer of 41 properties from the astronomical properties complex.
Mirlohi also stated that, in addition to former Tehran Municipality managers, some former members of the city council were involved in the transfer of these properties. He further expressed his concern that the case of the astronomical properties has "gone nowhere" in the judiciary.
Repossession of some properties from the IRGC
In an interview with Etemad newspaper, he also reported that, over the past two weeks, a number of municipal properties that had been "unaccountably transferred to Rasa Tejarat" as part of the astronomical property case have been reclaimed. Rasa Tejarat Mobin is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards Cooperative Foundation and has been linked to a financial dispute with the Tehran Municipality in recent years. According to members of the Tehran City Council, this company, which is connected to the Revolutionary Guards, owes the municipality a total of four trillion tomans under its contracts with the municipality and has yet to repay the debt.
City Council
The Memari News website identified Rahmatollah Hafezi, head of the Environment and Health Commission of the Islamic Council of Tehran, as the person responsible for revealing the names to the General Inspection Organization. However, the Shafaq News website, which is known to support Tehran Mayor Ghalibaf, claimed that Gholamreza Ansari, a reformist member of the council, was the one who disclosed the transfers.
Nader Khaghani
Nader Khaghani, head of the expert board of the General Inspectorate of the State, sent a letter to Ghalibaf. After the text of the letter was published by Memari News, the Tehran Municipality owned Shahr Nosht website published a statement as an interview with Khaghani, questioning the accuracy of the report. In the statement, Khaghani said: "We only raised questions; most of the names and license plates announced are fundamentally incorrect." Media outlets supportive of Ghalibaf quickly published this text, but soon after, Khaghani clarified in an interview with Mashreq News that he had not given any such interview. "I have not had any interviews with the media about the Tehran Municipality property case, and I deny all the published quotes," he stated.
Media
The corruption story was first reported by Shahrvand newspaper, and two days later, Memari News, edited by Yashar Soltani, revealed the text of the inspection organization's letter. The most severe action was taken against Memari News and Yashar Soltani himself, leading to his arrest.
On September 28, 2016, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stated that the discounts given to members of housing cooperatives registered with the municipality were in accordance with the law. The ILNA news agency quoted Ghalibaf as saying that nearly 30,000 people were registered in more than 100 cooperatives within the Tehran Municipality, and the law authorized the municipality to "address the housing problems of its employees" in terms of permits and real estate.
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, a spokesman for the judiciary, said on Sunday, September 27, that the judiciary had sent a letter requesting accountability from the municipality, but "there has been no response yet, and no legal case has been filed on the matter"
In contrast, Tasnim News Agency published interviews with the chairman, vice chairman, and several conservative members of the Tehran City Council, claiming that the "Astronomical houses" controversy was politically motivated, aimed at influencing the elections for the City Council's presiding board.
In this context, Mehdi Chamran, head of the Tehran City Council, said: "The letter that the Inspection Organization allegedly sent to the municipality and the council did not reach me or Ghalibaf." He also stated that "the presence of two factions in the city council should not cause internal issues to be dragged outside the council" and added, without directly referencing anyone, that "some people from outside the council are making plans that are not true." Chamran called on the judiciary to investigate "such lies," emphasizing, "If we speak against each other, rest assured that we will all lose."
The conservative Kayhan newspaper, with the headline "The judiciary should investigate the issue of astronomical abuse in the municipality / Trespassing on the treasury is treason, whether in the municipality or in the government," claimed that, following the incident of astronomical receipts, people felt deceived by the government's promises and believed it would not take action on what they saw as a great betrayal of the revolution's ideals. The newspaper described the exposure of corruption in the municipality as "a simulation of the government's think tank."
Tehran's interim Friday prayer leader, Movahed Kermani, who was known for his regular advocacy for exposing legal documents, had initially spoken out about corruption in the municipality and the astronomical properties in his Friday sermon on September 12. However, instead of focusing on the astronomical properties issue, Kermani shifted his attention to the need to address violations involving unconventional legal documents in most of his subsequent sermons, making no mention of the astronomical properties.
Rahmatollah Hafezi, head of the council's Health Commission, called for the Inspection Organization to investigate the astronomical property issue, describing it as undeniable.
Ahmad Tavakoli, head of the Integrity and Justice Watch and a former member of parliament, commented: âÂÂThe violation of the municipality and the Tehran City Council is clear.â His detailed report on the astronomical properties was published on various websites. According to his report, out of a list of 180 people who were transferred properties, 122 individuals received land. A total of 17,000 square meters, mainly in districts 1, 2, 3, and 22 of Tehran, were illegally transferred, with an expert value of 82.5 billion tomans and an illegal discount of 24.3 billion tomans.
On January 29, 2016, Saeed Jalili remarked: "It is only right to worry about the dream cartons when you are also ashamed of astronomical salaries and properties."
The judiciary, municipal and city council officials, and other institutions involved in this controversy, contrary to their inherent duty to combat corruption and their usual approach in similar cases (such as the astronomical salary scandal), took harsh action against whistleblowers and media outlets that reported on the issue. Yashar Soltani, the editor-in-chief of Memari News, was summoned to court following a complaint filed by Mehdi Chamran and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Soltani defended the publication, stating that the report was based on a ruling from the General Inspectorate of the country, and that this ruling was not confidential.
The Secretariat of the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content sent an email to the CEO of Shatel, the company providing internet services to Memari News, demanding that the website be blocked immediately. The email warned Shatel that if the order was delayed, the company would also face charges. As a result, Memari News was subsequently filtered by a judicial order.
According to Soltani, "Memari News is an official website with a legitimate press license from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and it was filtered by the filtering committee without any charges being filed or any crime being proven."
The blocking of the Memari News website drew criticism from Ahmad Masjed-jamei, a member of the city council. On Friday, September 2, he pointed out that websites making serious accusations against the government under the pretext of legal fees had not been filtered, and he warned that the filtering of Memari News would be seen by the public as "double-dealing with a single issue."
While the published letter from the General Inspectorate of the Republic of Iran regarding the violations by the Tehran Municipality did not carry any confidential or classified seal, the organization issued a statement claiming that the letter was confidential. The statement added, "What has been referred to as the organization's report in some websites and newspapers is merely a two-page letter from the inspection board to the managers of the Tehran Municipality in response to their actions regarding the transfer of Tehran Municipality properties, and this letter is not considered the organization's final report." The General Inspectorate emphasized that it was continuing to follow up on the issue of potential violations, but also urged Iranian media to refrain from "speculatingâ about it.
Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, issued a notification instructing the Attorney General to investigate the matter, adding that âÂÂmedia members and website officials should be prosecuted for publishing content that violates legal regulations, disrespects individuals, and disturbs public opinion. Legal action should be taken against the managers of the offending media and websites.âÂÂ
Following the publication of news about the municipality's property transfers and the filtering of Memari News, several other websites, including Moj, Borna News, the 9Sobh website (affiliated with the Kargozaran Sazandegi Party), and the reformist Poyish website, were also blocked. According to Bahar News, the Tehran Municipality was responsible for the filtering of these sites. Borna was specifically filtered due to its news and reports related to the Tehran Municipality and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. The editor of Poyish commented on Twitter about the filtering, stating: "We were blocked. The reason has not been announced yet, but it is probably related to the municipality. We also disclosed legal documents, but the government and lawyers had nothing to do with it."
Following complaints from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Mostafa Chamran, Yashar Soltani, the editor of Memari News, was summoned to the Culture and Media Court and arrested on Saturday, August 17, after failing to post a 200 million toman bail. Soltani faced three lawsuits: one from Ghalibaf for publishing a report about the transfer of municipal properties to officials and city council members at large discounts; another from Ghalibaf over news of his daughter's wedding in Lavizan Park, with accusations of using public resources for personal use; and a third from Chamran over an article about his son's work at a renovation company.
Before his arrest, Soltani had said in a video interview, âÂÂThe volume of transfers was much higher than the figure announced so far.â He also shared that âÂÂafter the filtering of Memari News, Ahmad Tavakoli followed up on the issue of the site's filtering, and we were able to obtain several lawyers. Later, we learned that Tavakoli followed up at Ghalibaf's request.âÂÂ
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the judiciary spokesman, told reporters the day after Soltani's arrest that the Inspection Organization's report should not have been published. However, he did not explain why the report was considered confidential, and when asked why the astronomical property news needed to be published, he had no answer.
Massoud Heydari, CEO of the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), was summoned to the Culture and Media Prosecution Office on Sunday, October 1, in relation to the case of the municipal property transfers. He was charged following complaints filed by five members of the Tehran City Council: Hadi Saei, Mohsen Pirhadi, Masoumeh Abad, Elaheh Rastgou, and Abolfazl Ghanetati. According to Ghanetati's defense lawyer, the five council members had filed complaints against a total of 10 news websites and several Telegram channels. The lawyer also named Borna News as one of the media outlets that had been sued. Some sources suggested that 14 news sites and Telegram channels had been ordered to respond to the complaints and expressed surprise at the severe actions taken against those reporting on the violations, such as filtering, arrests, and imprisonments, before any responses were received or published.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the first deputy speaker of the parliament, criticized the Tehran municipality's harsh treatment of media outlets critical of the organization. He emphasized the need for the parliament to address this issue, stating, âÂÂI do not deny that there are violations in the Tehran municipality in any way.â Pezzekian also referred to the dismissal of a news editor at a radio station for broadcasting a remark by a representative in parliament who criticized the Tehran municipality: âÂÂNot long ago, after I was invited several times to appear on the Nabz program of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, all the officials changed the program so I would no longer be invited. Unfortunately, such things happen.âÂÂ
On October 26, 2016, in one of the most heated sessions of the Tehran City Council, Abolfazl Ghanetati, a member of the council's board, responded to the revelation of the astronomical houses scandal by saying, "The person who published these words should have his sister in the hands of ISIS for a week to understand." Reza Taghipour, a conservative member and spokesman for the council, warned, "If they are going to be disgraced, no one will have any dignity left!" The release of an audio file of these remarks caused further controversy. Despite this, Ghanetati denied making the statement about Soltani's sister, claiming his words were distorted.
According to ILNA, on November 1, 2016, more than 700 journalists and reporters from various publications and news agencies wrote a letter supporting Yashar Soltani, requesting his release from detention by the judiciary.
On November 25, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi announced that, although Soltani had not yet been tried, his âÂÂspecific maliceâ was âÂÂproven,â and that Ahmad Hakimipour, a member of the Tehran City Council, had provided him with documents from the Inspection Organization regarding the violations by the Tehran Municipality.
On November 29, 2016, 14 members of the Tehran City Council sent a letter to the head of the judiciary, stating that they had no complaints against Memari News or its editor, Yashar Soltani, and called for his release.
In a controversial meeting on November 8, two conservative members of the city council accused Ahmad Hakimipour, a reformist council member, of secretly leaking information about the case and falsely denying his involvement. Mohsen Sorkho, head of the city council's transportation commission, defended Hakimipour, stating, âÂÂThose who violated the law should be ashamed, the mayor should be ashamed; those who ate and took should be ashamed.âÂÂ
On November 12, 2016, the Tehran Prosecutor's Office announced that following the completion of the investigation into Soltani's case, he had been released on bail.
In a continuation of the revelations about financial corruption within the Tehran Municipality, Shargh Newspaper on Sunday, November 2, reported the transfer of several thousand square meters of land to a charity run by Zahra Sadat Moshir, the wife of Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. The report also revealed that tens of billions of tomans had been donated by the Municipality to this charity in recent years.
Rahmatollah Hafezi, a member of the Tehran City Council, announced that 49,608 square meters of land had been transferred to the charity at a price of 149,000 tomans per square meter. Zahra Sadat Moshir, the wife of Tehran Mayor Ghalibaf, is a member of the board of trustees of this charity. On the same day, Gholamreza Ansari, another member of the City Council, told ILNA news agency that Tehran Municipality not only transferred the land to the charity for âÂÂfree or almost freeâ but had also been making financial contributions to the charity annually. A report in Shargh on the same day indicated that the Municipality had donated tens of billions of tomans to the charity over recent years. However, Tehran Municipality responded by stating that the property of the charity did not belong to any individual or legal entity and was âÂÂcompletely a public endowment." The Municipality further clarified that the land had been transferred âÂÂat the current valuation rate," although land sales advertisements in Tehran's 22nd district show that each square meter, where it is possible to build a residential unit, is sold for more than three million tomans.
According to the official newspaper of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the list of members on the board of directors of the "Imam Reza Charity" includes Zohra Sadat Moshir, the wife of Tehran Mayor Ghalibaf, Farhad Yaghoubi Qazvini, the deputy coordinator of the Greater Tehran Police Force during Ghalibaf's service, and Reza Shiran Khorasani, who was the head of Ghalibaf's popular campaign headquarters during the 11th presidential election and a senior advisor to the mayor. The list also mentions Majid Samiei, a neurologist, and his assistant.
Nearly two months after the controversy began, for the first time since the disclosure of the transfer of properties to government officials, a judicial official provided more details about the case on November 26, 2016, and confirmed a "definite violation" within the Tehran Municipality. In a live television interview regarding the transfer of municipal properties, Iran's Attorney General, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, confirmed the "definite violation," stating that a total of 45 individuals had received property from the municipality "outside the legal framework" and that these properties should be returned. Montazeri explained that these 45 people were both municipal managers and individuals outside the municipality who had taken apartments directly from Tehran Municipality without being members of the cooperative. He further announced that the contracts of these individuals were âÂÂvoid and should have been terminated,â and confirmed that the contracts of 36 people had already been terminated.
In another part of the interview, the Attorney General also mentioned 150 managers of the Tehran Municipality who, unlike the previous 45, were members of the municipality's housing cooperatives and had taken property at a discount. He stated that these individuals had received "more than they should have" in discounts. Montazeri added that 29 of the individuals who received these apartments were not employees or managers of the Tehran Municipality, which he described as "a clear violation."
Finally, Judiciary Spokesperson Mohseni Ejei announced that 30 people had been summoned to the prosecutor's office in connection with the municipal property case.
In a follow up television interview, the Iranian Attorney General reiterated the âÂÂdefinite violation,â stating that 455 people had taken property from the municipality "outside the legal framework" and that the properties should be returned. Jafari Dolatabadi, who is part of the Tehran judiciary, also revealed that the municipality had provided 200 million tomans in cash to several individuals. He added: "One of the municipal employees investigated stated that he received a 30 percent discount because he was a tenant of a 17 year old property without an elevator, located on the third floor in the Second Square area of Tehran Pars. Another person who holds a position in the municipality claimed to have received a 443 sqm property in the 22nd district at a discount after consulting with the municipality. Another municipal employee mentioned that in 2011, an apartment unit was given to him at a 10 percent discount.
Dolatabadi continued by describing an additional case where an individual was paid 200 million tomans in cash through a cooperative, while another municipal employee, who was also a tenant, and an athlete whose name appeared on the property transfer list, claimed they received a discount of 200 million tomans by virtue of a city council resolution.
In early September 2016, several members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced that they were developing a plan to investigate the Tehran Municipality on three main issues: "issuing construction permits and licenses without proper accounting," "improper appointments within the Tehran Municipality," and "the unaccountable transfer of real estate to members of the City Council."
The Parliament's Civil Engineering Commission gathered information related to the request for an investigation into the Tehran Municipality and provided it to the representatives seeking the inquiry. However, after reviewing the information, the representatives were not satisfied with the response. As a result, a meeting was held in November 2016 with these representatives and the Mayor of Tehran. The Civil Engineering Commission, in cooperation with several other parliamentary commissions, formed a specialized committee and held multiple meetings, including with municipal managers. After these discussions, on March 1, 2017, the committee decided to reject the request for an investigation into the Municipality's actions.
Following remarks from the spokesperson of the Civil Engineering Committee, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran and one of the key requesters of the investigation, expressed dissatisfaction with the Mayor's responses to questions on three key areas: density sales, property sales, and changes in land use. He stated, "We were not satisfied with his answers," and added, "There are reports showing that Tehran is being illegally sold by the Municipality to generate income." Sadeghi also pointed out that, although the Tehran Municipality initially denied the property transfers, it had eventually approved most of them under pressure from the judiciary. He further claimed that the sale of housing estates had made living conditions in Tehran increasingly difficult. He said, "In the past three months, the brother of a member of the Civil Engineering Commission has received a housing estate worth 10 billion tomans."
After Sadeghi's remarks, the Civil Engineering Commission's report on the âÂÂRejection of Investigation into the Performance of the Tehran Municipalityâ was put to a vote. The report was approved, and the request for an investigation into the Municipality was rejected.
Finally, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, parliamentarians accepted the report from the Civil Engineering Committee and voted to reject the request for an investigation into the Tehran Municipality's property transfers and dealings with individuals and legal entities. The report passed with 132 votes in favor, 90 against, and 5 abstentions, meaning that the investigation into the Municipality would not be placed on the parliament's agenda.
The parliament's decision not to investigate the Tehran Municipality's performance has drawn criticism from several members of parliament. For example, Tehran MP Mahmoud Sadeghi accused the municipality of engaging in âÂÂlobbyingâ and claimed that it had âÂÂgiven 10 billion tomans of congestion fees to the brother of a member of the Parliament's Construction Commission.â Sadeghi argued that if there were no issue, the municipality should have welcomed the investigation.
Fatemeh Saeedi, another Tehran MP, attributed the opposition to investigating the municipality to âÂÂintense pressure from the mayor's supporters and those around him, as well as strange lobbying efforts directed at the members.â She also pointed out the timing of the issue, as it was brought up on âÂÂthe last Tuesday of the year,â when many members were absent, and claimed that some members failed to adopt a non-political stance on corruption.
On July 1, 2018, Mahmoud Sadeghi revealed that, according to reports from parliament staff during the approval of the investigation plan, one member of parliament had received a hologram worth one billion tomans from the Tehran Municipality, and several other members had received money cards worth five million tomans. Sadeghi referred to this as one of the clearest examples of networked corruption in the country.
In the third presidential debate on May 12, 2017, Hassan Rouhani and Eshaq Jahangiri questioned the competence of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, referencing the scandal involving the illegal transfer of the "astronomical properties" of the Tehran Municipality. In response, Ghalibaf claimed that he had transferred these properties to street sweepers and other generally impoverished individuals.