Following his rearrest, convicted Iraqi religious official dies in police custody, says security  

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The ex-head of the Iraqi Sunni Endowment office, convicted of corruption, passed away in police custody after he was arrested again in Mosul on Thursday evening, according to security forces.

Saad Qambash escaped from custody in the capital Baghdad after he was sentenced to four years in prison on corruption charges by the judicial authorities in early April.

The convict was arrested in Mosul on Thursday after he had tried to escape from the security forces, a joint statement from the Ministries of Defense and Interior said.

Once Qambash was arrested, his health deteriorated, the statement noted, adding he had died upon his arrival at the Mosul Public Hospital.

The former official was believed to have suffered from an underlying cardiac condition.

Following his escape, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani sacked the head of the Iraqi special division for negligence. Other officers and members of the security forces had been fired following the incident.

Qambash was charged with misappropriating the religious establishment’s $35 million, which he had used to buy a hotel that was not “economically viable”, according to anti-corruption investigators.

Iraq is ranked 157 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index in 2022.

The country last year unearthed the theft of $2.5 billion from the tax authority’s bank accounts. The scandal has been dubbed the “theft of the century”.