Iran's top judge has asked the country's leaders to declare their personal assets in a bid to prevent illegal profiteering while in office, the state news agency IRNA reported Tuesday.
It is the first time since President Mohammad Khatami came to power in 1997 that the judiciary has invoked article 142 of the Iranian constitution, which calls for a judicial review of the financial holdings of those in office.
"If we want to fight inequality and corruption, we have to start with ourselves," Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi said, cited by IRNA.
"Article 142 must be applied," the judiciary chief said. "I don't know why it hasn't been before now."
The article calls for the supreme leader, the president and vice-presidents, ministers and their families to have their assets examined both before taking office and after their tenure in power.
Khatami's predecessor Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was asked to provide details of his assets when he took office in 1989.
The announcement comes after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called last week for government officials to fight misappropriation of public funds and social inequality.
Khatami has announced he will run for re-election next year to a second four-year term, the maximum under the Islamic republic's constitution - TEHRAN (AFP)
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