Oil boss accused of ‘serving to funnel money to Tehran’

A London-based businessman has been accused of controlling an oil company that the US claims was used to dodge sanctions and help generate ‘billions of dollars’ for the Iranian regime.

Arshiya Jahanpour, who resides in a £7 million London flat, has been accused of controlling a front company linked to Iran’s main petrochemical firm, according to a claim filed with the High Court.

The businessman is alleged to have ‘dishonest(ly)… allowed’ £123 million to be ‘misappropriated’ from Alliance Petrochemical (API), a Singapore-based oil firm. Jahanpour has denied the claims.

Court documents say Alliance controls 60 per cent of Mehr Petrochemical Company (MHPC), which has been sanctioned by the US on claims it is connected to Iran’s state-owned oil firm. 

Claim: Arshiya Jahanpour has been accused of controlling a front company linked to Iran’s main petrochemical firm

The US Treasury has said MHPC forms part of a ‘vast network of front companies’ that enables Iran to ‘orchestrate the sale of billions of dollars’ worth of petrochemicals’. 

In 2023, an Iranian court found that Alliance owed MHPC $170 million (£123 million), with both sides accusing the other of having misappropriated the cash.

The High Court claim is the latest salvo in a complex international legal feud over how the money was drained from Alliance’s accounts and who was responsible.

It erupted when Alliance claimed that rival oil tycoon Francesco Mazzagatti, the boss of North Sea energy group Viaro, had stolen the £123 million from the company. Mazzagatti was a director of Alliance, according to a preliminary judgment, and the company claims he remained in control even after stepping down in 2020. But Mazzagatti has launched a counter-claim.

A spokesman for Jahanpour said he denied having ever had control over MHPC or acted as a shadow director of Alliance. The claim is ongoing and no determinations have been made on the allegations. A spokesman for Mazzagatti declined to comment.