MOSCOW, February 4 - RAPSI. The Iranian man who was detained with a $70 million check on his arrival at Dusseldorf airport from Turkey last week turned out to be former Chief of Iran's Central Bank Tahmasb Mazaheri, German media reported on Sunday.

The Finanznachrichten online news resource reported that former Finance Minister and Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Tahmasb Mazaheri, aged 59, was detained by German customs officials on January 21, after they found a check for 300 million bolivars ($70 million) issued by the Bank of Venezuela in his luggage.

Mazaheri is likely to be charged with not declaring the money on his person at customs. The German authorities are also investigating him for possible involvement in money laundering. Mazaheri told the investigators that he was going to turn the check over to the Venezuelan authorities to finance the construction of around 10,000 flats.