ALIREZA MONFARED, DOMINICA'S MOST INFAMOUS DIPLOMAT, OWES IRAN $1.3bn FOR EMBEZZLED FUNDS

Alireza Monfared and Dominica PM Roosevelt Skerrit

According to the latest information out of Iran, Alireza Monfared, the Iranian oil sanctions evader who bought a million dollar diplomatic passport from the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, and drew a 20-year prison sentence for embezzling illegal oil sales proceeds, still has not paid the $1.3bn Restitution that the court in Iran ordered paid forthwith.

In addition to massive theft of Iranian government profits, Monfared defrauded Malaysian businesses, defaulted on payment of his debts there, and used his Dominica diplomatic passport to evade a Malaysian arrest warrant, notwithstanding that he was no more a legitimate diplomat than you or I.

If Monfared, one of many career criminals who covertly purchased a diplomatic passport from Dominica's senior leader, fail to come up with the money he stole, he may find himself in the same situation as his partner,  Babak Zanjani, who faces a previously imposed death sentence, unless he himself pays back €2bn in oil profits. Billions of dollars generated by an organization led by Reza Zarrab, Zanjani and Monfared were diverted by the trio, and others, and are missing, believed to be hidden in the world's tax havens.

So long as the Commonwealth of Dominica sells its patrimony by accepting cash from career criminals for diplomatic passports, the reputation of those countries will continue to suffer; North American and EU banks will expand their de-risking policies, due to the existence of the proceeds of corruption, bribes and kickbacks, Country Risk for Dominica will remain elevated, with no relief in sight. It is on the way to becoming, like Haiti, a failed state, so long as corruption is the order of the day.