DUSHANBE, January 20, 2015, Asia-Plus -- The head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), Abdujabbor Shirinov, has denied allegations that Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani gave bribe to one of deputy heads of Tajik central bank as absolutely baseless. 

“We have repeatedly denied any cooperation between Zanjani and Tajik central bank,” Shirinov stated at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 30.

Tajik central bank head stressed that that issue had been discussed at a meeting with top managers of Iranian Central Bank and “they were convinced that the National Bank of Tajikistan has nothing to do with Babak Zanjani’s fraud.”

Some media sources reported at the beginning of this year that Iranian legislator Amir Abbas Soltani, who is a member of the investigative committee set up in 2013 to find the money allegedly embezzled by Babak Zanjani, said that Zanjani’s representative had paid 3 million U.S. dollars to one of deputy heads of Tajik central bank for falsification of money transfer documents.

Besides, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh reportedly said in an interview on state television on August 11, 2014 that Zanjani used the Tajikistan branch of his own bank, First Islamic Investment Bank, to funnel the money out of Iran.

We will recall that the Iranian authorities have accused Babak Zanjani of embezzling US$2.7 million of oil funds.

Babak Zanjani was arrested by Iranian police on December 30, 2013 for his alleged role in a corruption scandal.  Some days later, a spokesman from the National Bank of Tajikistan, Abdughaffor Qurbonov, denied any cooperation between Zanjani and the bank and claimed all documents presented by Zanjani about their two-way communications were fake.