TEHRAN -- Two key members of the Executives of Construction Party (ECP) are not qualified to be founding members of the party due to their unclean records, an informed source said. The Commission of Article 10 which deals with the registration of political parties and groups in an inquiry from the Justice Department found that Ali Hashemi and Mostafa Hashemi Taba's records were not clear.

According to the law they cannot be the founding members of a party. Head of the Physical Education Organization, Hashemi Taba, had set up a sports company where he violated rules and regulations. Ali Hashemi was number two in the Oil Ministry. The TEHRAN TIMES reported recently that he was removed from his position. Although he is in the Oil Ministry he does not hold any position.

No reason has been given. The ECP was set up first as Group-16 before the Fifth Majlis elections following serious differences which surfaced between the technocrats who supported former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Jame' Ruhaniyat Mobarez (MRM) on the list of their candidates. The Guardian Council of the Constitution objected to the membership of 10 ministers in the Group-16 and only six founding members could stay, hence it became G-6 and later on its name was changed to ECP. The ECP in a coalition with 15 other groups supported President Khatami to power in May 1997 presidential elections.

The ECP's Secretary-General Gholamhussein Karbaschi, the former mayor of Tehran, is now serving his two-year jail sentence. He was convicted of graft and embezzlement. His advocates say the Judiciary's verdict was politically motivated to oust Karbaschi from the political scene.