Reuters, Tehran, Aug 13, 2008 – An influential Iranian cleric harshly criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for failing to pursue a policy of privatization to overhaul the lumbering economy, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a political rival of Ahmadinejad, said the president had failed to carry out Article 44 of Iran’s post-revolution constitution, which calls for the privatization of the state-dominated economy.

“The government has become a major employer, causing a lot of economic problems for the country,” said Rafsanjani, a top adviser to Iran’s most powerful figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The government has got involved in many economic activities … Ahmadinejad has turned the economy into a fully state-dominated economy.”

Rafsanjani said the Expediency Council had no intention of tolerating Ahmadinejad’s economic policies any longer.

“When Ahmadinejad was elected, the leader asked us to tolerate his economic policies … but after three years, the era of tolerating the government on carrying out privatization has ended,” he said.