Feb 20, 2019

With the signatures of 94 lawmakers, a bill has been presented to the Iranian parliament’s presiding board, titled, “Support for Whistleblowers of Economic and Administrative Corruption.” If approved by the presiding board, the bill could become law and facilitate the government campaign to fight corruption.

Tackling corruption has been on the Iranian government's agenda since the mid-2000s. In fact, the abovementioned bill was initiated based on a 2008 law, “Promotion of Administrative Compliance.” However, the net result of the various anti-corruption initiatives — including regular meetings between the heads of the three branches of power — have not borne any fruit. In 2014, President Hassan Rouhani even went as far as calling corruption a “national security threat” to the survival of the Islamic Republic. Representatives of the business community have also pointed to corruption and mismanagement as the most significant threats to the country’s economy. According to Transparency International’s corruption index, the situation in Iran has deteriorated in the past few years; in 2018, Iran ranked 138 out of 180 countries.

There is no doubt that the failure in pushing back against corrupt practices is rooted in a number of political, legal and cultural realities. Similar to other crises in Iran, there has been a wealth of studies and analyses in the country on the root causes of growing corruption. Phenomena such as the availability of government rents, the size of the government, legal and administrative deficiencies, social and cultural realities, and economic shortcomings have been recognized for decades, but the political elite has been unable or unwilling to address these issues.

On the other hand, a recent study published in Khorasan News identified a number of reasons why the public does not report corrupt practices:

The process of registering such a crime is too complicated;

It is too difficult to provide evidence;

The authorities do not take action against corrupt officials;

Fear of repercussions as a consequence of reporting;

Lack of attention to such reports;

Such corrupt practices have become part of the normal routine.

It is in light of the above perceptions that the bill has been presented to parliament. Interestingly, some government officials have already started thinking about how to facilitate the process of reporting corruption. This effort has included the introduction of an online system to entice whistleblowers to report corruption. Experiences of other countries have shown that the use of technology and also anonymous reporting can pave the way for the communication of illegal and corrupt practices. It is also important to provide legal protection to whistleblowers, as some may need to be engaged for further clarification. Nonetheless, the core question in Iran is to what extent the authorities will actually undertake legal actions against corrupt elements. It is true that in recent years there has been an increase in arrests and sentences against high-level political figures, but within the context of continuous political rivalries in Iran, a number of sentences — such as the imprisonment of Mehdi Hashemi, the son of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, or the charges against Hossein Fereydoun, President Rouhani’s brother — seem to be politically motivated. The fact is, all political factions in Iran include members who at some point in the past few decades have been involved in corrupt schemes and this may present another impediment, i.e., a desire not to expose the political elite as a whole.