Senior officials in Tehran are concerned that if Karbastchi is put on trial - as promised by the mullahs' leader and the Judiciary - the records of corruption and embezzlement of many of the regime's leaders and ranking officials, including Rafsanjani and Khatami, as well as the massive fraud and rigging during the May 23rd elections that led to Khatami's election, will also be uncovered.
A regime official said privately, "We have given figures and made much propaganda that people whole-heartedly voted for Khatami. How could we now say that his election was the outcome of rigging and the money spent by Tehran's mayor. This will be terrible. Whenever they choose to point to these things, the entire system will be undermined..."
Another official said in this regard that according to the official statistics the regime disseminated on the presidential elections, foreign governments also advocate that Khatami has 20 million votes behind him. If these stories are revealed, the regime's officials are afraid that they will also have to change their mind.
The results of investigations, not made public so far, indicate that everything Karbastchi did was done under the direct supervision of ex-President Rafsanjani and ex-Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati. These activities included embezzlement, theft and fraud in Tehran's municipality, managing Khatami's election campaign, purchasing votes and stuffing the ballot boxes for him in Tehran and other cities during the regime's sham presidential elections last May.
The regime's officials now intend to postpone Karbastchi's trial until the World Cup, so as to take advantage of the football fever and overshadow the issue.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 27, 1998
Back Home