Career
He was the managing director of the United Arab Emirates-based, one of Iran"s largest business conglomerates. He also owned Qeshm Airlines and Rah Ahan Sorinet F.C. in Iran. Zanjani was named in the European Union"s restrictive measures against Iran of December 2012.
(Persian: گروه شرکتهای سورینت) is an Iranian business conglomerate.
The company is one of Iran’s largest business conglomerates. Sorinet businesses include cosmetics, finance and banking, hospitality, commercial aviation, infrastructure, building material, information technology and international real estate development.
Its operations are in Iran, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Tajikistan, Malaysia, China, and other emerging markets in the region. Babak Zanjani has invested in following Iranian movies:
Hich Koja Hich Kas (Number where, Number body) (2012)
Naghsh-e Negar (Stencils) (2013)
Sizdah (Thirteen) (2014)
Zanjani was named in the restrictive measures against Iran in December 2012 by the European Union council on the grounds of "assisting designated entities to violate the provisions of the European Union regulation on Iran and is providing financial support to the government of Iran".
Zanjani was claimed to be "a key facilitator for Iranian oil deals and transferring oil-related money".
He denied the accusation, declining any ties with the Iranian government and calling the Europeans" decision "a mistake". The describe Zanjani as "a key facilitator for Iranian oil deals and transferring oil related money" and accuses First Islamic Bank of being used to channel Iranian oil-related payments. Zanjani said the complex nature of his companies" transactions, involving large sums, might have misled European Union authorities.
Zanjani"s companies are or may be involved in the Labuan Iran oil smuggling on the eastern coast of Malaysia.
Labuan has been serving as a drop-off spot for Iranian crude. In January 2013, an Iranian news website, Baztab, reported that Zanjani holds a Danish passport in addition to his Iranian one, a claim which was later denied by Zanjani.
He called the passport"s copy "fake", saying in an interview with the news website of Rahahan F.C., his football team: "This story is too badly fabricated that they even put my picture on the passport without a tie. However, it is obligatory to tie a necktie to take pictures for European passports," which is not true.
On 30 December 2013, Zanjani was arrested by Iranian police for his alleged role in a corruption scandal, in which he was accused of embezzling more than €2.7 billion.
Some days later, a spokesman from the National Bank of Tajikistan denied any cooperation between Zanjani and the bank and claimed all documents presented by Zanjani about their two-way communications were fake. On 6 March 2016, he was convicted and sentenced to death for embezzlement and "spreading corruption on earth".