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Iran president to expose ŽŽcorruptionŽŽ on TV
 [Al Arabiya Latest] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed Iran's former premier on Wednesday and accused him of falsely denying charges of corruption and embezzlement, in the latest development of a tit-for-tat spat between the Islamic Republic's senior officials ahead of the upcoming June 12 elections.Ahmadinejad vowed to respond to Rafsanjani in a 45 minute televised address to the nation and to "expose more of the corruption and thievery [of men of state]," a day after Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote an open letter to Iran's supreme leader to protest the incumbent's accusations that he received financial privileges in the past. However Iran's Fars news agency said the duration of the televised address would not exceed 25 minutes. Ahmadinejad's address will be aired on Wednesday at 18:00 GMT. The spat erupted after Ahmadinejad, who is seeking a second term in Friday's election, accused Rafsanjani, his sons and other senior officials of corruption in a stormy televised electoral debate against rival moderate Mir Hussein Moussavi last week, which analysts said was a controversial move against the vanguards of the Islamic Revolution and the regime. "I ask your eminence [Khamenei], given your position, responsibility and personality, to solve this problem and act in a way you deem right to take effective action in eliminating the mutiny," Rafsanjani wrote to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad's rivals, including Moussavi, conservative Mohsen Rezai and reformist Mehdi Karoubi, decried the allocation of extra air time for the president's new retort and argued "it was unacceptable and unfair" that Ahmadinejad be given more television time than other candidates, especially seeing as Rafsanjani was denied a televised response. Posted by: Fred 2009-06-11 |
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