Iraq is negotiating with America to retrieve wanted persons in the "theft of the century"

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[size=52]Iraq is negotiating with America to retrieve wanted persons in the "theft of the century"[/size]

[size=45]The Integrity Committee in the Iraqi parliament announced that the Iraqi judiciary has begun holding talks with its American counterpart with the aim of arresting those accused of "theft of the century."[/size]
[size=45]The deputy head of the committee, Alia Nassif, said in a press statement that "there is a move by the Iraqi Integrity and Judicial Commission, in coordination with the international police, Interpol, to arrest persons accused of stealing tax secretariats, which was called the deal of the century." She added, "The Iraqi judiciary is conducting negotiations with its American counterpart to arrest those accused of stealing the century with the aim of handing them over to Iraq and prosecuting them," noting that "two of the defendants hold American citizenship."[/size]
[size=45]And while Nassif did not disclose the names of the two officials who hold American citizenship among those accused of stealing the century, amounting to about two and a half billion dollars, the head of the Iraqi Integrity Commission, Judge Haider Hanoun, called earlier on the United States of America and the United Kingdom to hand over the director of the office of the former Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi. , and the former head of the Intelligence Service and Minister of Finance for their involvement in the case of theft of tax secretariats.[/size]
[size=45]The head of the Integrity Commission called on the relevant authorities in the United States of America and the United Kingdom to “implement the arrest warrants issued against them in accordance with the provisions of Article 316 of the amended Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969.” He also called on the United Arab Emirates to extradite the political advisor to the Prime Minister in the previous government who is currently residing on its territory, and also called on Turkey to extradite a wanted man and his wife, who are former employees of the Federal Integrity Commission and hold Turkish citizenship.[/size]
[size=45]Accused and bails
While the former Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar and the acting Minister of Finance in the government of former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi were the first to reveal during the month of October (October) 2022 what was later called the “theft of the century”, the accusations of money inflation and wealth pursued him after he left office. And after the issuance of red arrest warrants against Al-Kazemi’s team.[/size]
[size=45]While the Iraqi judiciary did not issue a red arrest warrant with the help of the International Police (Interpol) to pursue Abdul-Jabbar, an Iraqi court issued an order to seize his movable and immovable funds. And Abdul-Jabbar had announced, shortly before the end of the term of former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, the theft of tax secretariats, estimated at two and a half billion dollars, deposited in the government-run Al-Rafidain Bank. After that, he announced his resignation from the post of Minister of Finance by proxy. However, the revelation of that theft, which turned into a public opinion case in Iraq, did not intercede for Abdul-Jabbar to escape punishment, which later pursued him on charges of illegal enrichment, at a time when the Iraqi judiciary issued a decision to accept the bail of the main suspect in the case.[/size]
[size=45]The night of Zuhair’s arrest
, in overtime between the end of Al-Kazemi’s government, which had turned for about a year into a daily caretaker government due to disagreements over the alternative candidate to form the government, former Interior Minister Othman Al-Ghanimi announced that a force from the Ministry of Interior under his personal supervision managed to arrest the main suspect in The case of tax secretariat theft Nour Zuhair, who heads one of the five companies involved in that theft.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Ghanimi announced to the media that the movement of the main suspect, who was intending to leave Iraq by his private plane, was followed up with a court process, as he was followed secretly until he boarded the plane to be disembarked and taken undercover to a police station. However, the process of arresting this accused did not last long after a kind of settlement took place that required his release on bail, given that the article according to which he was referred to the judiciary allows bail in the hope of recovering the money that he admitted to seizing, which is estimated at one and a quarter billion US dollars.[/size]
[size=45]Shortly after assuming his position as prime minister, Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani appeared, surrounded by hundreds of millions of dollars and Iraqi dinars, to announce the first money recovery operations from the main suspect, provided that he continues throughout the bail period to recover the rest of the stolen money.[/size]
[size=45]And while the Iraqi government seeks to open corruption files, including the file of recovering smuggled funds abroad and returning wanted persons accused of stealing public money, the Iraqi public opinion still views the issue of theft of tax secretariats as one of the major issues that have exposed the origin of the political system in the country. While the charges affect senior government officials in this case, there are contradictions in the judiciary's positions towards the accused. While the main suspect is still outside the prison walls as a guarantor, the questions raised in the various media and social media platforms focus on issuing red arrest warrants against suspects who are outside the country by asking Interpol to return them, which may not receive the required response from the countries in which they are located.[/size]
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