Tehran, Jul 31 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Four Iranian citizens charged with defrauding Iranian banks of $2.3 billion have been sentenced to death, the Mehr news agency reported.

"The convicts will be informed in the nearest future about the court's decision to sentence the four of them to capital punishment," Prosecutor General Gholamhossein Mohseni E'jei said.

Mohseni E'jei said two other people have been sentenced to life in prison and the rest of the accused, 33 Iranians, received 25-year-long jail terms.

According to Iranian media, the Tehran-based Amir Mansour Arya Investment Company began taking out loans from top Iranian banks, Bank Saderat and Bank Melli, in 2007, using fraudulent documents.

Three years later, in 2010, investigators uncovered the scheme, which resulted in $2.3 billion in damages.

In November 2011, 39 people were arrested on embezzlement charges. Several top officials, including the heads of the Iranian National Bank and Bank Saderat, had been dismissed.

Hamid Pourmohammadi, deputy chairman of the Iranian Central Bank, and Inayatullah Riyahi, the president's chief of staff, also suspected of being involved in the case, were among those arrested in November.