NO NEWS OF EXTRADITED IRANIAN SANCTIONS EVADER WHO HELD DOMINICAN DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

Alireza Monfared and Dominica PM Roosevelt Skerrit

Since he was taken into custody in January, 2017, by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there has been no news regarding criminal charges pending against Alireza Monfared, accused of participating in the theft of $3bn, in Iranian oil profits. Monfared's extradition focused attention upon the fact that he, a known Iran sanctions violator, had been issued a diplomatic passport in the Commonwealth of Dominica, and that he had a close relationship with Dominica's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, while evading extradition requests sent to Malaysia and Dominica.

Some observers have expressed a fear that Monfared, known to be an intelligence agent in Iran, may have been engaged in espionage while he resided in Dominica, in an effort to redeem himself with his government, who had charged him with participation in a massive theft of state profits, in a case where one partner, Babak Zanjani, faces the death penalty in Iran, and another, Reza Zarrab, is a defendant in a criminal case, in US District Court in New York, and looking at 75 year in a Federal Prison. Was Monfared a spy who strayed for personal political gain, and then returned to his dark craft, to avoid a death sentence in Iran ? We cannot say, but the fact that there has been a virtual news blackout in Iran, regarding Monfared's case, is disturbing. Has he now received immunity from prosecution ?