‎Two conservative Majlis deputies from Tehran, Ahmad Tavakkoli and Elias Naderan, issued a ‎harsh response to yesterday's announcement by Ahmadinejad’s administration's Information ‎Council which had reported that the administration was (illegally) withdrew funds from the ‎Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund (FERF) to finance gasoline imports. In their response, the ‎lawmakers accused the administration of "blatant disregard for law" and noted that the Ninth ‎Administration "avoids responsibility by pointing fingers and shifting blame onto others." ‎

The administration's Information Council, while forcing Hamshahri newspaper to publish its ‎announcement on the front page, accused the press of "pointing fingers and misleading public ‎opinion" and denied reports of "illegal withdrawal from the foreign exchange reserve fund on ‎Ahmadinejad's order to import gasoline." ‎

Now, the two conservative lawmakers, who have studied economics, and who were mentioned ‎by the Hamshahri article, issued a harsh response to the administration and defended their earlier ‎accusation that the administration illegally withdrew funds from the FERF and the oil minister's ‎remarks in the Seventh Majlis Energy Committee meeting pointing to Ahmadinejad's order ‎approving the withdrawal. ‎

Tavakkoli and Naderan cited "preventing the regularization of the very dangerous trend to ‎undermine budget laws by the administration" as the main reason for their concern, adding, "At ‎the May 12, 2008 meeting of the Energy Committee, the oil minister clearly acknowledged, ‎several times, that the import of an additional 2 billion dollars of gasoline above the 3.8 billion ‎dollars authorized by the budget bill was illegal, requiring the permission of the Majlis, and ‎pointed to the president's order to justify this illegal act by the Ministry of Oil." ‎

The importance of the challenge posed by conservative lawmakers to the administration is that, ‎during the entire duration of the past year, the Ahmadinejad administration claimed that gasoline ‎consumption had decreased by a considerable amount as a result of the government’s ‎implementation of a rationing system. Some administration officials even claimed that the ‎country was on track to nip gasoline imports all together. ‎

The government's illegal importation of gasoline above the level authorized by the Majlis in the ‎budget bill demonstrates not only the administration's failure to curb gasoline consumption and ‎the repeated presentation of lies in this respect, but also its willingness to engage in illegal ‎gasoline imports without obtaining authorization from the Majlis in order to avoid taking ‎responsibility for its failures and exaggerated claims regarding gasoline consumption. ‎

It appears that the on going press coverage of this controversy can pose larger problems for the ‎administration, far exceeding the present row over illegal gasoline imports, because ‎administration officials, including Ahmadinejad, have always insisted that the promises they ‎make during their provincial visits are all within the framework of the budget law. The oil ‎minister, however, has now refuted this claim and revealed how a considerable portion of the ‎country's billions of Dollars in oil revenues - which is apparently missing and being searched for ‎by economists since two years ago - is being spent. ‎