The son of a prominent religious figure has fled the country to escape corruption charges, while a former foreign minister has voluntarily returned to face charges of plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime.

Naser Vaez Tabasi, the son of one the most powerful conservative clerics Ayatollah Abbas Vaezi Tabasi, has allegedly fled to the U.S. to escape corruption charges and debts of tens of millions of dollars.

According to Yalasalat, a hardline weekly, Tabasi has fled to the U.S. where his Iranian wife stays. Tabasi is a well-known businessman managing the special economic zone of Sarakhs. His father is also a prominent figure in the wealthiest religious city of Mashhad.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Yazdi, former foreign minister and the security general of the opposition Freedom Movement of Iran (IMF), has ironically decided to return from the U.S. to face charges against him of plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime.

Many members of the IMF were arrested a year ago and the organisation was also outlawed. Most of them have recently been released on bail.

The new trend of fighting against the financial corruption started last year in Iran and it is being orchestrated by the judiciary. It revealed several cases of misappropriation and embezzlement among officials and their relatives.

The first case was against Shahram Jazayeri, 29, who started his career as an ice-cream seller in the southern city of Ahwaz, then quickly turned into a rich man who was reported to have had more than $60 million in 1996.

Jazayeri was imprisoned last autumn on charges of corruption, but he defended his stand as getting such amount through hard work and "gifts."

He was also officially accused of embezzlement, bribing officials and forging documents to get $120 million from the banking system.