A 59-year-old man stopped by German custom authorities in late January for attempting to enter the country with an undeclared check worth $70 million has been identified on Friday as a former chief of an Iranian central bank, according to German weekly Bild am Sonntag.
Tahmasb Mazaheri, was apprehended on January 21 by custom officials at Duesseldorf airport when the check was found in his luggage upon arrival from Turkey. Mazaheri faces a $1.4 million fine for not declaring the check and is being investigated for money laundering.
German custom officials say the check was issued by the Bank of Venezuela in the amount of 300 million Venezuelan Bolivars, which is roughly equivalent to $70 million dollars.
According to Bild am Sonntag, Mazaheri led the Central Bank of Iran until 2008. Iranian govenment officials have not commented about his arrest.
Venezuela and Iran are alleys. The UN and western countries have imposed economic sanctions on Iran because of the country's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. The sanctions have led to high inflation as Iran has been barred from the global credit system.
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