Iran Arrests Anti-Corruption Officials for Fraud

Iran has arrested several anti-corruption officials on fraud charges, the justice minister announced on Sunday.

"In the Government Discretionary Punishments Organization (GDPO), some of our colleagues have been corrupted," Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said, quoted by Fars news agency.

"In line with the fight against corruption, more than 10 colleagues in GDPO, most of them managers and consultants, were arrested and interrogated," he said, without giving further details.

On its website, the GDPO says it was set up to fight economic and financial corruption.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered his administration in late December to take measures to fight "financial corruption ... particularly those who have taken advantage of economic sanctions."

Babak Zanjani, an Iranian tycoon who reputedly played a major role in busting sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program, was arrested a day later.

Iran's ailing economy has been struggling under an array of international sanctions designed to coerce it to rein in its controversial nuclear ambitions.