Mahmoud Reza Khavari

Mahmoud Reza Khavari (Persian: محمودرضا خاوری‎‎; born May 26, 1952) is an Iranian former banker^[3] who was involved in a 2011 Iranian embezzlement scandal. In 2005 he became a Canadian citizen.^[4] As of 2014, he was a fugitive wanted by the judicial authorities of Islamic Republic of Iran. He was also wanted by Interpol.^[5]

He was chairman of Bank Melli Iran^[2] and chairman of Bank Sepah’s board of directors from December 2003 until at least March 2005.^[6]

Early life

Mahmoud Reza Khavari was born Khorramabad in southern Iran. He obtained a bachelor of Law from University of Tehran and a Master's from Shahid Beheshti University.^[7]

After graduation he was hired by the Bank of Industry and Mine (Sanat-o-Madan) as the head of complaints department. He was selected in the board of directors of Sepah Bank in Rafsanjani's government. He became the head of Sepah Bank during Khatami's presidency. in 2010 he was appointed by Ahmadinejad's government as the head of Bank Melli Iran, the largest bank in Iran.^[8]

During his inauguration, Shamseddin Hosseini, minister of economic affairs and finance in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government described Khavari as a wise and pious man and told the reporters that the highest level scrutiny was employed in his appointment. ^[9]

Khavari has not obtained a PhD but has often referred to himself as Dr. Khavari in official Bank Melli Iran communications.^[10]

2011 Iranian embezzlement scandal

In 2011 Khavari's name was mentioned several times in relationship to the Iranian embezzlement scandal of roughly 2.6 billion dollars. Khavari shortly after went to United Kingdom in order to attend a meeting at Lloyd Bank and announced his resignation by faxing it to Iranian officials.^[11] He moved to Canada, which he has citizenship,^[2] and signed his 3-million dollars house in Bridle Path, Toronto over to his daughter, to protect it from possible seizure by Canadian authorities. Despite numerous requests from Iranian police, Canadian authorities did not extradite Khavari. He may face the death penalty if convicted by the judicial system of Iran.^[2]

Toronto property records in Khavari’s name date to 2001, when he took out a mortgage for a $615,000 property on Elmwood Ave., in North York. At one time, Khavari owned a Toronto-based company called Soaring Properties.^[6]

On October 31, 2011, House of Commons of Canada member Irwin Cotler called for investigation on how he became a Canadian citizen.^[12]

Many of the companies and institutions that Khavari has been associated with such as Bank Sepah and later Bank Melli have been sanctioned by the UN security council and the international community since 2007. UN Security Council blacklisted Bank Sepah under resolution 1747 and placed restrictions on Melli under resolution 1803. According to security expert, Avi Jorisch, Khavari is in violation of the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations for having worked and provided financial services on behalf of a designated Canadian entity. Khavari is also in violation of Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act, along with Part II.1 of the Criminal Code (Section 83.05). Furthermore under Section 83.05, Canadian authorities have the right to freeze Khavari’s assets.^[13] However as of 2016 Khavari has not been subjected to any asset freeze or investigation by the Canadian authorities.^[14]

Hiding place

In February 2014, the head of the Interpol Office of Iranian police said “a few days ago, the Canadian Interpol claimed in a phone contact that he has escaped to a Latin American or Caribbean country but that they couldn't verify the escape yet, and this is the latest piece of information provided by the Canadian police to us”. He dismissed the report on his escape from Canada".^[15]

In March 2015, the same official announced that his hiding place had been discovered and Canadian authorities were referring his case to Canadian judiciary.^[16]

In 2016 Bloomberg reported that Khavari and his sons have been active in Toronto real estate market even after the scandal and from 2012 to 2016 the family has purchased at least $12.1-million worth of properties under various names and legal entities. Additionally they are responsible for roughly $11-million from 10 different mortgages.^[5]

Khashayar Khavari

In June 2016 Bloomberg reported that there are several ongoing court proceedings in Ontario between Khavari's Son, Khashayar Khavari [who was using an alias name of Khashayar Khalili], his son-in-law Mohammad Mahdi Tajbakhsh and their business partner, Toronto developer Sam Mizrahi.^[17] According to the report Khashayar Khavari [aka Kashayar Khalili] invested in two midtown luxury projects belonging to Mizrahi. Khavari has claimed 105 million Canadian dollars in damages. According to Mizrahi, Khavari threatened Mizrahi's life on several occasions.^[18]

The case is ongoing with a hearing date scheduled in July 2016.^[18] On March 24, 2016, the court dismissed a motion on the part of the Khavaris to have Mizrahi return shares of five corporations held by Mizrahi, ruling "Khash has transferred all of his rights of ownership in the Shares to MEI [Mizrahi]. What remains under the Trust Agreement is essentially no more than a contractual obligation on the part of MEI to re-transfer the Shares at a future point in time". ^[19] Most recently, on August 17, 2016, the judge presiding over the legal dispute dismissed the motion for an inspector to be assigned to investigate Mizrahi's finances, writing "... I am further of the view that, in all of the circumstances, it would not be appropriate to appoint an inspector."^[20]

References