TEHRAN - Custom officials will be summoned to parliament over the alleged transfer of $18.5 billion in cash and gold from Iran to Turkey, MP Mohammad-Reza Khabbaz said on Thursday.

“Lawmakers will definitely summon customs officials to elaborate on the issue next week,” Khabbaz, who is the rapporteur of the Majlis Economic Committee, told the Mehr News Agency.
He said parliamentarians must obtain precise and comprehensive information from the relevant bodies in order to inform the public about the issue.
Turkey’s Kanal D channel had earlier reported that Iranian businessman Esmael Safarian-Nasab had transfered $7.5 billion in cash and 20 tons of gold to Turkey in October 2008.
And in an interview with Kanal D, Safarian-Nasab’s lawyer, Senol Ozel, said that his client wants his money and gold back.
However, Iranian and Turkish customs officials and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry have dismissed the reports about such a consignment being transferred from Iran to Turkey.
In addition, Turkish State Minister Hayati Yazici dismissed the report as “false and baseless”, Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu reported last week.