The former finance minister denies his connection to theft of the century: he is ready to cooperate

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[size=52]The former finance minister denies his connection to theft of the century: he is ready to cooperate with the government[/size]

[size=45]Translated by: Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]In an interview with (The National News) website, former Finance Minister Ali Allawi said that he had no knowledge of the exact nature of the details of the charges against him in connection with the ongoing investigation into the circumstances of the theft of the century case, indicating that he was ready to fully cooperate with the government.[/size]
[size=45]The name of the former Finance Minister, Ali Allawi, was mentioned among the names of former officials identified by the Iraqi government, and among them were also aides to the former Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, whom Baghdad says are all residing outside Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]The Anti-Corruption Commission had stated in March that the four men, including Ali Allawi, are accused of facilitating the embezzlement of funds belonging to the tax secretariat authorities.[/size]
[size=45]Allawi denied his involvement in the case, which shocked public opinion and angered the ruling elite.[/size]
[size=45]"The whole case for me is an outrageous one," Allawi told the news site.[/size]
[size=45]He added, "I am ready to open and disclose any bank accounts they want from me or my family members, but being accused of these things is shocking."[/size]
[size=45]And the Iraqi government, headed by Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, announced last October that sums of cash had been looted from Iraq for the period between September 2021 and August 2022, at a time when Allawi was Minister of Finance.[/size]
[size=45]Allawi said, "I was the person who comes in second place within Al-Kazemi's government, but I do not think that they can issue charges against Al-Kazemi, as well as against me, because I am the second most important man."[/size]
[size=45]On Sunday, the head of the Integrity Commission, Judge Haider Hanoun, directed a request to the competent authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom to cooperate in implementing the arrest warrants issued in March against four former Iraqi officials.[/size]
[size=45]And Baghdad issued a red signal request to the international police, Interpol, to arrest former high-ranking officials and politicians, including Finance Minister Allawi.[/size]
[size=45]However, the former finance minister denied that Interpol had issued a signal against him.[/size]
[size=45]Allawi said, "I checked the official website of Interpol and did not find my name. The lawyers I have in Baghdad did not confirm this, and the lawyers I have in London have no knowledge of that."[/size]
[size=45]In March, the Iraqi government brought charges against Allawi, but no letter or notification was issued against him or his legal team.[/size]
[size=45]Allawi went on to say, “Nothing was shown to me, I mean that it is usual in such cases that the accusation is presented to you, and if you are not present, they send a letter to your place of residence to inform you, but the complaint was published on the official website of the Integrity Commission.”[/size]
[size=45]The theft case came under the spotlight when an internal financial oversight body in the Ministry of Finance found that the General Tax Authority had illegally paid sums to five fake companies, and the first clues of the theft were revealed during the Al-Kazemi government.[/size]
[size=45]The amounts were paid from a branch of the government-run Rafidain Bank within the Department of the Tax Authority.[/size]
[size=45]In Iraq, which is governed by the system of quotas and nepotism, the people who can carry out such a process are often linked to influential political and party parties.[/size]
[size=45]Allawi said, "I like to say that, as far as I am concerned, there is no evidence linking me to the case or my acquisition of money from theft, and I also believe that there is no evidence that I mismanaged my position, or that I was negligent in my work in a large way."[/size]
[size=45]He went on to say, "What I witnessed during my time in the ministry is only a small part of this issue."[/size]
[size=45]The property of Allawi and the rest of the three people had been frozen since the arrest warrants were issued this year. The government sought to bring suspects in for the purpose of interrogation.[/size]
[size=45]The main suspect in the case who was arrested, Nour Zuhair Jassim, has ties to a number of political parties, and he was released on bail at the end of last year. The government says it has recovered $125 million from him.[/size]
[size=45]This theft is one of the worst cases of appropriation of public money in Iraq, the country included in the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Index report in the 157th sequence as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, at the bottom of a list of 180 countries around the year.[/size]
[size=45]About: (The National) news site[/size]
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