Info:
According to the U.S. Treasury Department:
Bonyad Mostazafan was created in the wake of the Islamic Revolution to confiscate and manage property, including that originally belonging to religious minorities such as Baha’is and Jews. The Foundation has since emerged as a source of power, wealth, and influence for the Supreme Leader and his inner circle.
Bonyads are opaque, quasi-official organizations controlled by current and former government officials and clerics that report directly to the Supreme Leader. Bonyads receive benefits from the Iranian government, including tax exemptions, but are not required to have their budgets publicly approved. They account for a significant portion of Iran’s non-petroleum economy, with the Foundation itself estimated to account for over one percent of Iran’s gross domestic product.
Bonyad Mostazafan’s vast economic wealth is partly the result of asset expropriation and business with human rights abusers and those involved with Iran’s support of international terrorism. As of 2017, the Foundation was owed nearly $2.5 million in trade debt by the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the IRGC, and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), all of which have been previously designated under multiple authorities, including counterterrorism authorities. The Martyrs Foundation repaid a similar debt of $1.65 million to the Foundation between 2016 and 2017.
Despite its outsized influence in the Iranian economy, Bonyad Mostazafan operates outside of government oversight and, due to a 1993 decree by the Supreme Leader, is exempt from paying taxes on its multi-billion-dollar earnings. The Supreme Leader has the authority to regulate its central accounts and personally profits from the Foundation’s holdings, which also line the pockets of his allies.
As of 2020, according to Bonyad Mostazafan President Fattah, Foundation properties have been occupied by the IRGC, the Iranian navy, the Iranian Parliament (Majles), and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, none of whom pay to do so. Ahmadinejad bases his office in an upscale property belonging to the Foundation, worth some $50 million in a wealthy neighborhood of Tehran.
The abuse of Bonyad Mostazafan’s assets also benefits the Supreme Leader’s inner circle. Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a Khamenei confidant and the father-in-law of his son Mojtaba Khamenei, occupies Foundation property worth some $100 million, paying rent far below market rates. A member of Iran’s Expediency Council, Haddad-Adel, was designated pursuant to E.O. 13876 in November 2019. Mojtaba Khamenei was simultaneously designated pursuant to E.O. 13876 alongside Haddad-Adel;
According to a 2010 report by the UN Security Council:
‘It is well-known that IRGC is a complex amalgam of military, political and economic forces and has large financial resources that influence the Islamic Republic of Iran’s economy. Financial wings of IRGC, IRGC Cooperative Foundation (Bonyad-e Taavon-e Sepah) and the Mostazafan Foundation (Bonyad-e Mostazafan), are actively pursuing investments in a variety of sectors. The Mostazafan Foundation invests in diverse businesses from agriculture to service sector. Together with the Mostazafan Foundation, IRGC financial wings control 43 companies through public trading on the Tehran Stock Exchange, and 218 small and medium-sized companies with 1,073 managers with IRGC affiliation’;
Bonyad e-Mostazafan Foundation is a charitable bonyad, or foundation, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the second-largest commercial enterprise in Iran behind the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company and biggest holding company in the Middle East;
Bonyad e-Mostazafan Foundation is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and Supreme Leader of Iran, important Revolutionary Guards who have headed the foundation include Mohsen Rafighdoost, who served as Minister of the Revolutionary Guards from 1982 to 1989 before heading the foundation until 1999; and Mohammad Forouzandeh, the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Guard in the late 1980s and later Defense Minister, who is head of the foundation as of 2006;
Iranian Mostazafan Foundation made deals with the terrorist organization IRGC;
IRGC (Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps) is military organization in Iran, considered separate from the regular armed forces, it’s main activity is supplying weapons, money and drugs to terrorist organizations, destabilize other countries, involved in planning and support for terrorist acts and groups, personnel sanctioned for missile and nuclear proliferation activities;
Reportedly purchased chemicals, equipment for the nuclear program, and spare parts for Iranian fighter-bombers;
Mostazafan also has a history of soliciting contract work abroad. It currently maintains economic connections with countries in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and South Asia, as well as in Russia and other former states of the Soviet Union;
Subsidiaries:
Manages more than 400 companies and factories, owns the Ghods chain of stores and the Bonyad Export and Import Company (BEXIM);
Oversees the following companies Alborz, Aliaf, Aliaf P.P.Azar, Bonyad, Baftehaie Kerman, Baresh, Behran, Bonyad Parkett Keshvary, Blour Yazd, Bonyad Aluminium Iran, Caolinit, Daftar Abzar, Damavand Mining Company, Doona Mining, Ekbatana, Eshtiyagh, Holeh Laleh, Irana, Iran Abzar, Iran Choob, Iran Footwear, Iran Kork, Iran Parto, Iran Pouya, Iran Tire, Jahan, Kaben, Kaveh, Khalkhal Neopan, Kordestan Textile, Laleh Naghsh, Novaform, Nezam Abad, Pakris, Panbeh Ghabos, Panbeh Shahid Beheshti, Pars Choob, Rey, Sanate Choobe Shomal, Sanaye Korke Kashan, Saveh Tile, Selkbaf, Sitco, Somic, Tabchem, Tizro, Tizro Trading Company, Tebed, and Ziba;
The Foundation is involved in numerous sectors of the economy, including shipping, metal, petrochemicals, construction materials, dams, towers, farming, horticulture, tourism, transportation, hotels, and commercial services. It controls 40% of Iran’s production of soft drinks, including Zamzam Cola which it owns and produces, the newspapers Ettelaat and Kayhan. It “controls 20% of the country’s production of textiles … two-thirds of all glass products and a dominant share also in tiles, chemicals, tires, foodstuffs.” Its total value was estimated by one source at “as much as $12 billion,” by another as “in all probability exceed[ing] $10 billion.”;
Mostazafan’s largest subsidiary is the Agricultural and Food Industries Organization (AFIO), which owns more than 115 additional companies. Some of the foundation’s contract work also includes large engineering projects, such as the construction of Terminal One of the Imam Khomeini International Airport;
Among the more prominent companies owned by the foundation, the following can be mentioned: Behran Oil, Sina Bank, Tehran Cement Company, Zamzam Company, Irancell;
Companies owned by the Mostazafan Foundation:
List of companies owned by the Mostazafan Foundation
Involved In:
Military Weapon Program
Also Known As:
Foundation of the Oppressed
Bonyad Mostazafan
Janfazan Foundation
Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan
Foundation of the Oppressed and Disabled
MFJ
Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution
Mostazafin Foundation
Established:
1979 (Ruhollah Khomeini)
Country:
Iran
Address:
Africa Square, P.O. Box 14155-3988, Tehran, Iran
Phone:
+98-21-226-2021
Website:
www.irmf.ir
E-mail:
info@irmf.ir
Person of interests:
Parviz Fattah – (Currently head of Mostazafan Foundation from 22 July 2019)
Amir-Mansour Borghei
Javad Ghana’at
Khosro Mokhtari
Mohammad-Ali Yazdan Joo
Mohammad Saeedikia
Articles/Reports:
» Bonyad Mostazafan Foundation – Report
Reason for the color:
» Added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on November 18, 2020 pursuant to Executive Order 13876 for being owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, the Supreme Leader of Iran;
» Security Council Report: Bonyad Mostazafan Foundation is controlled by the designated Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC);
» Mostazafan foundation is supervised by the Supreme Leader who appoints its directors;
» Property of the Mustafa Foundation is in the hands of the supreme leader;
» The Revolutionary Guards’ Looting of Iran’s Economy;