TEH RAN — A move to impeach an Iranian minister, slated for today, has flared into a full- blown political scandal after an attempt to bribe lawmakers over the matter. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in turn, says parliament is out to sabotage his Cabinet ahead of elections next June.
Speaking on television Monday, the president called the impeachment bid “not legal” and “unfair.” Ahmadinejad is firmly backing Interior Minister Ali Kordan,, who has been accused of dishonesty for falsely claiming to hold an honorary law degree from Oxford University. Kordan says Oxford’s representative in Teh ran lied to him.
An impeachment of Kordan would push Ahmadinejad close to having to submit his entire Cabinet to a review by parliament, which is led by one of his chief political opponents. Iran’s constitution requires that step if more than half the Cabinet ministers are replaced, and Ahmadinejad has replaced nine of 21.
