Coll 28/10(2) ‘Persia; Diaries; Meshed Consular June 1940; Khorassan Political; Khorassan Fortnightly Reports’ [‎188r] (375/1297)

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llLE A C^ JL Gorru]3tion_0a,se i _
195* Bef,para 162. Th^ . ..vO against three Persian clerks
(two of them Jews) in the Uh .O.C, Stores Department aT>
Meshed for taking hrihes in ccrnexion with the issue ox
spare parts to Indian drivers, duly came before the Meshed
City Court on the 3rd August 1944. The Attache to this
Consul ate-General * Khan hahadur Mchd .hyuh Ansari, attended
the proceedings on behalf of the U.K.C.C.
Although the Public Prosecutor as a result of his_
detailed investigations had strongly recommended the conviction
of the accused on charges of khu kulah -ba rdari (the nearest
Persian equivalent of criminal breach of trust), the Court
after hearing arguments on both sides ano> the statements of
the accused, acquitted the latter without further ado. Not
one of the ten prosecution witnesses, most of whom had given
to H.M.Consul-GeneralZtne public Prosecutor straightforward
firsthand evidence of the corrupt practices of the accused,
was examined in court; the judge obviously knew all a do ut
the case and had decided to acquit before the proceedings
started.
After consultation with H.11.Consul-General the area
Manager, Mr.Stocken, decided not to appeal as it was obviousk^
that no Meshed court would convict. The Area Manager had
already thoroughly cleaned up the Stores Department and K.M.
Consul-General has satisfied himself by personal enquiries
from drivers and others that “commission *-taking has oeen
reduced to negligible propoartions. The accused had more than
two months in jail and doubtless had to spend a considerable
sum of money to get off. They have been dismissed and are
being black-listed for further employment by British authori
ties in Persia. The prosecution has had a good political
effect, especially among Indian British subjects, its failure
is ascribed as a matter of course to the venality of the
courts and the low standard of commercial morality in meshud.
As already reported (para 141), in the course of the
preliminary investigations it transpired that a vury large
quantity of Chevrolet spare parts which had been imported
many months before from America had been sent to Meshed by
TJ # K. C . C. headquarters at Tehran during the spring. The
instructions were to r, get rid of them* as quickly as possiole
in case the Bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. Persia branch should shut down in the ne.ur
future. These stocks were rapidly finding their way on x>o^
the black market at prices between 400 and 500 % above U.K.C.C.
schedule rates when the complicity of the local Stores Depart
ment staff in the process was brought to the notico of K.M.
Consul-General by disgruntled Indian drivers. So far as H.M.
Consul-General can make out, these profits which run into
millions of rials are shared in varying proportions by
(l) the big contractors, Tufangchian, Yeganegi,
and Dharam Singh Bam Singh,
Members of the U.K.C.C. Stores Department
s taff hern ,
• (o) the black market dealers in Meshed bazaar.
The way of U.K.C.C. headquarters at Te^an with imported
spare parts is curiously reminiscent of the way/Central Khurbur
with Indian tea, sugar, and cloth. There is the same hoarding,
month after month, at the port and the same eventual oozing out
on to the black market when prices have reached a sufficiently
high level. These things are the subject of much cynical
comment at Meshed and Bah id an.
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