Responding to the controversy arising out of Ahmadinejad's grand accusation of the participation of senior government officials in a cigarette mafia and exchange of billions of Dollars in bribes, the administration's information council and prominent conservative news sources such as Fars news agency claimed that Ahmadinejad meant to say 5 billion Tomans, not Dollars! (The US Dollar brings in about 850 Iranian Toman in the open market.)

Fars news agency published a piece under the headline, "Erroneous Coverage of Figures Related to Cigarette Imports in President's Speech in Qom," in which it corrected Ahmadinejad's error, noting, "The figure reported from the president's speech in Qom regarding the exchange of a 5 billion Dollar bribe to import cigarettes was mistakenly reported as 5 billion Dollars on the by the administration's information council, whereas the correct figure is 5 billion Tomans."

Accusation of a cigarette mafia was among several charges made by the president in a fiery speech he delivered in the religious city of Qom. Speaking to a group of Qom residents, Ahmadinejad claimed that the cigarette mafia was the recipient of a "5 billion Dollar" bribe. Soon after the speech, hardline Raja News, closely affiliated with the administration, expanded on the charge, indirectly referring to former Passdaran Revolutionary Guards commander and current Ahmadinejad critic, Mohsen Rezai.

In response, Tabnak website which is affiliated to Mohsen Rezai noted that Iran’s total cigarette imports barely exceeded 360 million Dollars annually.

Fars news agency reported an even lower figure in its coverage of the issue: "The country's total cigarette imports stand around 250 million Dollars per year at the most. The incorrect figure reported by the president was 5 billion Dollars, whereas the correct figure is 5 billion Tomans."

Ahmadinejad's accusation in his Qom speech was so outrageous that former finance minister, Davoud Hanesh-Jafari, recalled it in his departure speech as an instance of Ahmadinejad's ignorance of economic facts and the administration's dismal handling of the economic crisis.

Slamming Ahmadinejad's remarks in Qom about the cigarette mafia, Danesh-Jafari said during his departure speech on Tuesday, "Ten large and small companies control the market for official cigarette imports into Iran. They spent about 300 million Euros worth of imports into Iran last year. How is it possible that someone would be willing to pay 5 billion [Dollars] in bribes to get a permit to import cigarettes when there is no legal barrier to obtaining such a permit? This claim does not seem to make sense."