Vice president under Ahmadinejad arrested on undisclosed charges

TEHRAN, June 8 (UPI) -- A former Iranian vice president under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was arrested on Monday as an apparent part of an ongoing corruption investigation.

The charges against Hamid Baqaei, vice president for executive affairs for former President Ahmadinejad, were not disclosed, but Iran's President Hasan Rouhani has worked to root out corruption since he was first elected in 2013.

Ahmadinejad's last years in office were stained by growing corruption where people close to the former president were accused of a $1 billion bribery and embezzlement scheme. Death sentences were carried out for several alleged conspirators after the scheme, involving Iran's most powerful banks, was exposed in 2011.

Iranian presidents have multiple vice presidents who serve as aides and advisers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Last year, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, another vice president under Ahmadinejad, was sentenced on corruption and embezzlement charges to more than five years imprisonment and was ordered to pay more than $1 million in fines and compensation payments.