The Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution ( fa, بنیاد مستضعفان انقلاب اسلامی) formerly Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan (Foundation of the Oppressed and Disabled or "MFJ") is a charitable ''
bonyad'', or foundation, in the
Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, the second-largest commercial enterprise in Iran behind the state-owned
National Iranian Oil Company
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; fa, شرکت ملّی نفت ایران, Sherkat-e Melli-ye Naft-e Īrān) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of ...
[Millionaire mullahs by Paul Klebnikov, 7 July 2003, ''The Iranian''](_blank)
Originally printed in ''Forbes'', Retrieved 15 May 2009 and biggest
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
in the Middle East.
The foundation used to be directly run by
Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...
.
It was founded in 1979 as a successor to the Pahlavi Foundation. As an economic, cultural, and social welfare institution, the foundation controls manufacturing and industrial companies, whose profits are used—according to the foundation—to promote "the living standards of the disabled and poor individuals " of Iran and to "develop general public awareness with regards to history, books, museums, and cinema."
The Mostazafan Foundation is associated with the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
where some of its head officials have come from.
History
Pahlavi Foundation
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( fa, محمدرضا پهلوی, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (), was the last ''Shah'' (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Irani ...
established the Pahlavi Foundation as a tax-exempt charity in 1958. This foundation held the assets of Mohammad Reza Shah, his predecessor, and many of his family, who later served on the corporate board and received commissions. The Pahlavi Foundation's wealth was estimated at $3 billion at its height. The Pahlavi Foundation was dogged by accusations of corruption.
[Abrahamian, Ervand. ''A History of Modern Iran''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008]
The Pahlavi Foundation was said to have owned in Iran four leading hotels: the Hilton, the Vanak, the Evin and the Darband. The foundation gained international attention for purchasing the DePinna building on
Fifth Avenue, New York, valued in 1975 at $14.5 million. Such investment in a foreign market by the Pahlavi Foundation gained media attention because in order to do such foreign investment the foundation had to register as an American charitable foundation with the declared aim of using the rental to pay for Iranian students studying in the United States.
The advantage of such charitable status was that the US authorities could not investigate the books of the Pahlavi Foundation in Iran.
Mostazafan Foundation
Following the Islamic Revolution, the Pahlavi Foundation was renamed the ''Bonyad-e Mostazafan'' (Foundation of the Oppressed), and its economic assets increased by more than double after the property of fifty millionaires was confiscated and added to the endowment.
A decade after the Revolution, the foundation's assets totaled more than $20 billion, and included "some 140 factories, 470 agrobusinesses, 100 construction firms, 64 mines, and 250 commercial companies."
By 1994, the foundation conducted six trillion rials' worth of business transactions, compared with 5.5 trillion rials collected by the government in taxes. By 1996 the foundation began taking government funds to cover welfare disbursements.
Because of the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, the foundation was given the responsibility to supervise and aid veterans wounded in the war and the name ''Janbazan'' (disabled) added to it.
[Bonyad-e Mostazafan van Janbazan: Oppressed and Disabled Veterans Foundation (MJF)GlobalSecurity.org](_blank)
Page last modified: 10-07-2008. 15 March 2009 Sometime before December 2005 the foundation changed its name back to Bonyad Mostazafan as the "Martyrs and War Veterans Foundation" took over war veterans affairs.
Important Revolutionary Guards who have headed the foundation include
Mohsen Rafighdoost, who served as Minister of the
Revolutionary Guards
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
from 1982 to 1989 before heading the foundation until 1999; and
Mohammad Forouzandeh
Mohammad Forouzandeh ( fa, محمد فروزنده) is an Iranian politician and security figure. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council
The Expediency Discernment Council of the System ( fa, مجمع تشخیص مصلحت ...
, the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Guard in the late 1980s and later Defense Minister, who is head of the foundation as of 2006.
The United States imposed sanctions and blacklisted the Bonyad Mostazafan, an organization controlled by Khamenei. The sanctions froze U.S. assets and bared Americans from doing business with them. The foundation controls hundreds of properties confiscated since the 1979 revolution.
Status
Legally, the Mostazafan Foundation, is neither a public entity, nor a private one. It is classified as a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
, in which the government cannot interfere in its affairs. The foundation only answers to the
Supreme Leader.
Economic activity
The foundation is involved in numerous sectors of the economy, including shipping, metal, petrochemicals, construction materials, dams, towers, farming, horticulture,
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
, transportation, hotels, and commercial services.
[Katzman, Kenneth. Iran's Bonyads: Economic Strengths and Weaknesses. 6 Aug 2006](_blank)
Retrieved 15 May 2009 It controls 40% of Iran's production of soft drinks, including
Zamzam Cola
Zamzam (, ''Zemzem'', formerly Zamzam Cola) is a brand of soft drink produced in Iran by Zamzam Group. It is popular in parts of the West Asia, having gained a status there as an alternative to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The director of the Zamzam Gr ...
which it owns and produces; the newspapers ''
Ettelaat
''Ettela'at'' ( fa, اطلاعات, Ettelâ'ât, ) is a Persian language daily newspaper of record published in Iran. It is among the oldest publications in the country, and the oldest running Persian daily newspaper in the world. The paper has ...
'' and ''
Kayhan''.
It "controls 20% of the country's production of textiles ... two-thirds of all glass products and a dominant share also in tiles, chemicals, tires, foodstuffs."
NHH Sam 2007, Destructive Competition
/ref> Its total value was estimated by one source at "as much as $12 billion," by another as "in all probability exceed ng$10 billion."
Mostazafan's largest subsidiary is the Agricultural and Food Industries Organization (AFIO), which owns more than 115 additional companies. Some of the foundation's contract work also includes large engineering projects, such as the construction of Terminal One of the Imam Khomeini International Airport
Imam Khomeini International Airport is the primary international airport of Tehran, the capital city of Iran, located southwest of Tehran, near the localities of Robat Karim and Eslamshahr and spread over an area of of land. Along with Mehr ...
.
Mostazafan also has a history of soliciting contract work abroad. It currently maintains economic connections with countries in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and South Asia, as well as in Russia and other former states of the Soviet Union.
According to one of the foundation's former directors, Mohsen Rafighdoost, Mostazafan allocates 50 percent of its profits to providing aid to the needy in the form of low-interest loans or monthly pensions, while it invests the remaining 50 percent in its various subsidiaries. With over 200,000 employees, it owns and operates approximately 350 subsidiary and affiliate companies in numerous industries including agriculture, industry, transportation, and tourism.[Iran’s Economy](_blank)
/ref> Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan represented approximately 10 percent of the Iranian government's annual budget in 2003. the MJF has an estimated value of more than $3 billion.
Controversies
As employers of approximately five million Iranians and providers of social welfare services to "perhaps several million more", bonyads such as Mostazafan "have a large constituency and are able to build support for the government among the working and lower classes." Nonetheless, the foundation has been subject to a number of controversies common to other bonyads in the years since its inception. The foundation and other bonyads are "exempt from official oversight as key religious leaders and former or current government officials control them. They enjoy virtual tax exemption and customs privileges, preferential access to credit and foreign exchange, and regulatory protection from private sector competition".
In 2003, there was talk of the foundation "spinning off its social responsibilities" and becoming "a purely commercial conglomerate," leaving open the question of who would own it and why it should exist as a foundation.
See also
* Bonyad
* Economy of Iran
The economy of Iran is a mixed economy with a large state-owned sector and is the largest in the Middle East in terms of nominal GDP. It is the world's 21st largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Some 60% of Iran's economy is centrally pla ...
* Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Works and Values
References
External links
Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan
(official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution
1958 establishments in Iran
Organizations established in 1958
Charities based in Iran
Front organizations
Foundations based in Iran
Organisations under the direct control of the Supreme Leader of Iran
Revolutionary institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran