Iranian law enforcement has arrested the chairman of the city council in Lavasan, a posh suburban town near Tehran, according to a tweet by the town’s Friday Prayer Leader.
The cleric said authorities arrested Amir Afrasiabi in line with the “campaign against corruption”. In recent years there have been many controversies surrounding Lavasan and illegal construction of villas and luxury buildings on government land or in protected areas.
Well-off government officials and wealthy people prefer to live in Lavasan surrounded with natural scenery and clean weather or have their second residence in the area.
In September 2019 the head of Tehran's Justice Department announced that a half-built residential tower owned by several members of Iran's parliament in Lavasan will be demolished. According to local news outlets, the land was granted to the legislators by circumventing legal procedures.
Last year, two members of Lavasan’s city council and the mayor were arrested for “financial violations”.
Another publicized case involves the former head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani and a senior politician concerning the construction of a township in Lavasan on a 247 acre illegally acquired parcel of land.
Reports about land-grabs of public real-estate by influential officials and politicians have been rife in recent years.
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