Ahmadinejad forced to face parliament over scandal

Iran’s parliament is to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over an economic scandal and his policies after the required number of MPs signed a petition yesterday, the latest salvo in a long battle between the president and his rivals.

Mr Ahmadinejad would be the first president to be hauled before the Iranian parliament, a serious blow to his standing in a the conflict involving the president, MPs and Iran’s powerful clerics.

At least 73 MPs signed the petition to question Mr Ahmadinejad, just above one-quarter of the 290 members required by Iran’s constitution to call in a president.

Earlier, the parliament found Mr Ahmadinejad’s economics minister guilty in relation to a £1.6 million fraud case.

This is just one of several economic misconduct cases that target Ahmadinejad allies. Mr Ahmadinejad has been wrestling with the parliament and the clergy in the run-up to parliamentary elections in March and a presidential election in 2013.

Dozens of his political backers have been arrested or hounded out of the public eye by hard-line forces in recent months.