Tehran City Council Fed Up With Mayor’s Nepotism

Ali-Asghar Ghaemi, a member of the Tehran City Islamic Council, stated on Sunday that an official warning has been drafted and signed by nine council members to address the issue, and it will soon be presented to the council's executive board.

The Islamic City Council of Tehran oversees the governance of the city, including the election of the mayor and the allocation of budgets for the Municipality of Tehran. Its 21 members are elected through a plurality-at-large voting system for four-year terms.

Ghaemi noted, "The interventions by [Mayor Alireza] Zakani's son-in-law in various entities and subsidiary public companies of Tehran Municipality have reached a point where even the authority to make seemingly simple decisions has been stripped away from the managers."

Alireza Zakani, the hardliner mayor of Tehran, had appointed his son-in-law, Hossein Haydari, as his advisor, while Haydari concurrently served as the head of the board of directors for a holding company responsible for the information technology of Shahr Bank (City Bank). Additionally, Haydari and Zakani’s daughter hold managerial roles in several other IT companies working with Iran's phone and internet service providers.

In response to public outcry over the mayor's nepotism, Zakani initially said that Haydari was intended to work for free, and later announced that he had rescinded Haydari's advisory position.

"The decision to revoke the advisory role for Zakani's son-in-law was commendable; nevertheless, it was expected that this action would be put into practice," Ghaemi added.