Iran sacks chiefs of 4 commercial banks over high salaries

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s official news agency says authorities have removed the chiefs of four of the country’s major commercial banks from their posts for receiving “unconventionally” high salaries.

Thursday’s report by IRNA says the Saderat, Mellat and Mehr Iran bank chiefs have been replaced and that the chief of the Refah bank was replaced earlier in the week.

Some of the bankers reportedly had monthly salaries equivalent to up to $60,000 while at the same time being recipients of substantial low-interest loans from their own banks.

The development comes after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this month said bankers’ case went “against values and ideals” of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian hard-liners have recently accused moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s administration of corruption. Rouhani has vowed to eliminate corruption.