Major Scandal at IRALCO, A Chain of Corruption in Iran's Aluminum Industry

IRALCO, Iran's largest aluminum producer, is currently at the center of one of the most extensive economic corruption cases. This corruption includes organized raw material sales, selling ingots outside the stock exchange, withholding thousands of tons of products, currency violations, family networks, and widespread smuggling. Official documents show that between the years 2010 and 2022, a network known as "Pardis Group" purchased 23 percent of aluminum sales from the commodity exchange and sold ingots without any production process, earning over 3 trillion tomans in illicit profits. This case is now being addressed with an indictment in Tehran's Special Court for Economic Crimes.

A Brief History of Corruption at IRALCO; From Raw Material Sales to Organized Smuggling 

Corruption in Iran's aluminum industry has a long history. Since the early 2010s, numerous reports have been published about raw material sales of ingots, non-offering in the stock exchange, widespread smuggling, and currency violations. In July 2026, the Government Penalties Organization of West Azerbaijan announced that an industrial company related to aluminum had imported 452 tons of smuggled ingots into the country, and its CEO was fined 370 billion rials. This history shows that corruption in the aluminum chain is not a temporary incident but a recurring pattern of exploitation of raw materials and government currency.

Selling Ingots Outside the Stock Exchange; The Starting Point of IRALCO's Crisis

According to the official report of the Central Province Judiciary, an individual with the initials "M.M" established a family network of eight subsidiary companies under the name "Pardis Group" and over the years, purchased 23 percent of the total aluminum sales from the commodity exchange. This network then sold the ingots without any production process to companies in need of raw materials, effectively acting as a major broker in the market.

Judicial investigations reveal: Raw material sales of aluminum from 2010 to 2022 continued, and over 737 tons of aluminum were sold illegally, with illicit profits amounting to 3٬360 billion tomans. This scale of violation indicates the penetration of informal networks into the country's raw material supply structure.

 In November 2023, the Government Penalties Organization announced that an aluminum manufacturing company, which the media linked to IRALCO, despite receiving currency from Bank Mellat, did not offer 36 thousand tons of aluminum ingots in the stock exchange, leading to: shortages of raw materials in downstream industries, increased aluminum prices in the domestic market, and disruptions in the production chain. This company was ultimately fined 7٬944 billion rials and ordered to return 8 million euros of received currency. This case is considered one of the largest currency violations in Iran's aluminum industry.

Pardis Network; An Organized Structure to Bypass Oversight

 According to the Student News Agency, Pardis Network, in addition to extensive purchases from the stock exchange, was also active in importing aluminum and securing currency, using the Central Bank's preferential institutions and the National Development Fund to obtain currency.

This network, exploiting oversight gaps, managed to: import raw materials with government currency, sell ingots outside the stock exchange, and earn large profits without actual production, even returning part of the illicit income to the government to avoid harsher penalties. This pattern is a classic example of structural corruption in Iran's major industries.

From Market Disruption to Threatening National Economic Security

 The consequences of this widespread corruption include: increased aluminum prices in the domestic market, shortages of raw materials for downstream industries, disruptions in national production, decreased investor confidence, increased oversight and judicial costs, and even weakening the commodity exchange as a transparency mechanism. The IRALCO case is now recognized as one of the symbols of organized corruption in Iran's metal industries.

The IRALCO case is significant in several ways due to its very high financial volume (over 3 trillion tomans) and its direct connection to major industries and national production. The presence of family and organized networks in it has led to currency violations, widespread smuggling, market disruption, and price increases.

The IRALCO case shows how selling ingots outside the stock exchange, raw material sales, smuggling, currency violations, and family networks can bring a major industry to crisis and disrupt the country's production chain. The case is currently in Tehran's Special Court for Economic Crimes, filed as ongoing without a result.