Iraq issues intl. arrest warrants on 'Heist of the Century' case
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Four former Iraqi officials are accused of embezzling $2.5 billion of state funds between 2021 and 2022.
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The international arrest warrant document issued by Iraq's Supreme Court (obtained by RT)
Iraq's Public Prosecutor in issued 4 international arrest warrants to Interpol against senior officials in the former Iraqi government under Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadimi, on charges related to the plundering of billions of dollars worth of state funds, RT reported on Tuesday.
The case investigation, which is known in the media as the "Heist of the century," accuses 4 former top Iraqi officials of stealing $2.5 billion from tax returns that were deposited in Rafidain Bank. The cash was funneled through 7 private companies, 5 of which were then recently established.
All the defendants now reside outside Iraq and hold US or UK citizenship.
According to Iraqi media sources, the four warrants, signed by Chief Prosecutor Najm Abdullah Ahmad on August 8, identified the accused as: "The former head of the National Intelligence Agency, Judge Raed Jouhi Hamadi Al-Saadi; the director of the special office of the former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi; his advisor Mushreq Abbas Hassan Hussein Al-Janabi; and the former Finance Minister Abdul Amir Husoun Ali Taha."
Iraq's Finance Ministry revealed earlier that armored vehicles carrying $2.5 billion belonging to the country's Tax Institution disappeared between September 2021 and August 2022.
The head of the Iraqi Integrity Commission, Haider Hanoun, announced last week that the International Police issued "red notices" for the wanted individuals, indicating that the accused men currently live in several countries, including the UAE, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Hanoun said that this is “the largest corruption case discovered to date," describing it “a crime of corruption mixed with treason.”
Hanoun confirmed that "the share of each wanted person is not less than 100 billion dinars, or about $77 million," revealing that the number of defendants "is more than 48."
Last week, The Economist reported that Interpol, the US, and the UK have been urged to assist the Iraqi authorities in arresting and extraditing the corrupt officials.
Ever since Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was appointed in October, he vowed to crack down on corruption.
