Identifying criminal activities underlie money laundering in Iran's agricultural sector using Grounded Theory

The log in dirty money into the agricultural sector has caused many problems for the agricultural system. The aim of current study is identifying criminal activities underlie money laundering in agriculture sensitive sector as sector that ensures food security of the society. In the present study, the data were collected through in-depth interviews with experts from the Agricultural Bank, experts from the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture, academic researchers, a number of top agricultural producers, observation of documents and direct observation. Then, using Grounded Theory, the main components of the research were extracted from the collected data. The results showed that there are eight common money laundering methods in the agricultural sector of Iran, which include possibility of corruption in the process of agricultural production (integration of 3 key concepts), corruption in the market of production inputs (integration of 5 key concepts), corruption in the guaranteed purchase market of products (integration of 2 key concepts), corruption in Import and export of products (integration of 5 key concepts), bribery and corruption among employees and experts of institutions related to the agricultural sector (integration of 6 key concepts), corruption in the provision of bank facilities and credit (integration of 4 key concepts), financial corruption of marketing factors (integration of 4 key concepts) and fraud and misuse of farmers' financial resources (integration of 2 key concepts). Thus, despite the authorities' belief and the lack of attention paid to studies on money laundering in the agricultural sector, the extent of criminal activities identified and the narrow line between conventional and unconventional profits reveal the fact that the phenomenon of money laundering in Iran's agricultural sector is very high and undeniable.