West’s Ponzi schemes to undercut Iran

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says the West seeks to destabilize the Islamic Republic with the establishment of pyramidal firms in the country.

“We have taken an initiative against the pyramidal firms and found clues in the course of our investigations which reveal that the West and their intelligence services seek to instigate insecurity in the country,” Moslehi told reporters on Saturday.

The Iranian Intelligence Minister made the comments days after the closure of the major Swedish firm Oriflame Cosmetics in Tehran on August 22 due to its reported pyramidal network.

Moslehi warned against the “behind-the-curtain aims” of such establishments and said, “The stealth activities of such a company is indicative of their illicit goals.”

Oriflame has expressed dissatisfaction about losing its market in Iran and said it will seek to continue selling its products in the country.

Meanwhile, the company has acknowledged that it earned €5.5 million from sales in Iran in the second quarter of 2010 alone.

According to earlier reports, Oriflame had established a vast pyramidal network in Iran under the guise of selling cosmetics, making huge profits.

The company had turned Iran into its biggest market in the Middle East.

It reportedly had some 40 thousand members in Iran.

Oriflame’s chief financial officer Gabriel Bennet says, “We are seeking a dialogue with the [Iranian] authorities but we need to know more about why we are in this situation before we can make any comments,” AFP quoted him as saying.