Arrest warrants issued against several former Iraqi officials

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An Iraqi court has issued several arrest warrants against senior officials of the former Iraqi cabinet headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

The former officials have been charged with corruption, including “stealing tax authority funds.” Former Finance Minister Ali A. Allawi, among other officials, is charged with facilitating the theft of $2.5 billion in tax revenues, according to a statement from the Integrity Commission on Friday.

The financial scandal is known in Iraq as the “heist of the century”. 

The Karkh court in Baghdad, with investigative judicial authority, issued the arrest warrants for the head of Kadhimi’s office, his chief of staff, and a political advisor of the former premier, according to the commission.

An Iraqi member of parliament on Friday announced that the assets of the officials have been frozen by the judicial authorities for the “misappropriation of funds”.

Allawi, a renowned Iraqi politician and respected academic, has served in several ministerial positions following the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. He resigned in August last year before the end of Kadhimi’s cabinet term. 

He has denied any responsibility for the enormous thefts that were exposed last year. 

The officials have not responded to the charges immediately. 

Allegations of corruption are often believed to be weaponized against political rivals in the country. 

Iraq is ranked at the very bottom of Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, placing at 178 out of 180. 

“Fighting corrupt people is not easy; sometimes, it is more difficult than fighting ISIS,” Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has recently said in the US.