Interpol returns former minister wanted for corruption to Iraq
The International Criminal Police Organization, more commonly known as Interpol, has handed over to Iraqi authorities a former minister arrested in Lebanon on charges of “embezzling state funds.”
“Former trade minister Abdel Falah al-Sudani has landed in Baghdad after having been handed over by Interpol. It's the first time that Interpol responds to a government request at that level,” a government source said on condition of anonymity on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Iraq’s Commission of Integrity (COI) stated that the Lebanese Presidency had issued a decree on December 27, 2017, announcing the extradition of Sudani to judicial authorities in Iraq.
In 2012, the former Iraqi trade minister was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison after a court found him guilty of “deliberate damage, breaches of duties and intentional functions, damage to public funds, and money laundering.”
Sudani was arrested at Baghdad International Airport in 2009 as he tried to flee Iraq after having been sacked and charged. His plane was turned around by air traffic controllers before he reached Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
After being taken into custody in Baghdad, he was released on bail of $43,000 but again fled.
Sudani is accused of importing expired commodities, sugar, procuring illegal contracts as well as failing to fight corruption in his ministry during his mandate.
Interpol captured him in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut last September.
Meanwhile, Iraqi and Jordanian authorities are currently working on finalizing the extradition procedures of the former Iraqi defense official, Ziad al-Qattan, to Baghdad.
Qattan, who served as the secretary-general of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in 2004, was arrested at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman last February during a joint operation by Jordanian police and Interpol.
A number of former Iraqi ministers, who have fled the country, are wanted over corruption charges, according to COI.
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