2009/06/13

Iran rejects claims of voter fraud

Iran rejects claims of voter fraud
Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli says there has been no 'written complaint' about voter fraud.

Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli has declared that the 10th presidential elections were conducted in a manner that ruled out the possibility of voter fraud.

In a press conference at the Interior Ministry on Saturday, Mahsouli put the number of the total votes cast in the elections at 39,165,191, suggesting the heavy turnout to be a victory for the nation and not for a specific candidate.

The figures bring to around 85 percent the total participation in the elections. The total number of people eligible to vote had been estimated to be over 46 million.

While officially pronouncing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the presidential elections with a whopping 24,527,516 votes, Mahsouli dismissed claims that the elections were rigged.

"No violations that may have influenced the vote have been reported, and we have received no written complaint," he said in response to a question posed by an Italian reporter.

He explained that there may have been some tensions between the representatives of the presidential hopefuls but added that there is no evidence to suggest that the issues of contention have led to violations.

His remarks came after Moussavi described the official count as a 'sleight of hand' by those in charge of the crucial election.

According to the Interior Ministry, Ahmadinejad received around 62 percent of the votes while Mir-Hossein Moussavi managed to win nearly 33 percent with 13,216,411 votes.

The two other candidates -- Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi -- won 1.7 and 0.85 percent respectively.

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2009/06/08

Fraud halts India, Israeli arms deals

Fraud halts India, Israeli arms deals. New Delhi has suspended all arms trade with Tel Aviv after blacklisting Israel Military Industries (IMI) over corruption allegations.

The Indian government says the contracts were halted for alleged 'illicit trading and bribery'.

Arms deals with six other companies --from Poland, Singapore as well as India-- were also suspended.

The move, which came after the former head of India's Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) Sudipto Ghosh was arrested on corruption charges, puts billions of dollars worth of defense contracts at risk.

Ghosh is accused of receiving bribes from the arms manufacturers to favor them in arms purchase projects with OFB.

IMI had signed a $24 million contract with OFB under which it was about to set up an ordnance complex of five plants in northern India to manufacture 155mm Bi-Modular Charge Systems (BMCS) and other propellant charges for heavy caliber artillery ammunition for the army.

Arms trading between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, which is India's second biggest arm supplier after Russia, dates back to early 1990s, so far they have inked deals amounting to $8 billion.

Last month, India received the first of three Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes from Israel it purchased for $1.1 billion in 2004.

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