Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei controls a business empire worth $95 billion through the Setad organization, according to an investigation by Reuters released Tuesday.
The Setad organization holds a court ordered monopoly on taking property in the name of Ayatollah Khamenei and has amassed thousands of properties seized from ordinary Iranians. Israel Hayom reports:
Setad has built its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians -- members of religious minorities, Shiite Muslims, business people and Iranians living abroad.
Reuters reporters identified nearly 300 properties that Setad put up for auction in May alone, many worth millions of dollars. […]
According to one of its co-founders, Setad was created to help the poor and war veterans and was meant to exist for just two years.
Since then, Setad has morphed into a business juggernaut with real estate, corporate stakes and other assets. While Setad controls a charitable foundation, it is not clear how much money goes to charity.
Under Khamenei, the organization has expanded its corporate holdings, buying stakes in dozens of Iranian companies, both private and public, with the stated goal of creating an Iranian conglomerate to boost the country's economic growth.
