Ex-American darling Chalabi falls out with Iraq authorities

BAGHDAD – Prominent Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi and his nephew Salem will be arrested the moment they set foot in Iraq, the judge who issued warrants against them said yesterday.

“This is not a summons, they will be arrested the moment they return to Iraq and they will appear before an investigating court”, Zuhair al-Maliky told AFP in an interview. That court will decide whether to refer them for trial by a higher tribunal, he added.Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, is currently in Tehran, while Salem, who heads the court to set up former dictator Saddam Hussein and figures of his regime, is in London.Ahmed is accused in particular of counterfeiting money, on charges which Maliky said had been brought by Iraq’s central bank following raids on his home in May.He said Salem was one of three accused in connection with the murder of Haithem Fadhil, director general of the Iraqi finance ministry, in April.Maliky refused to name the other two.Chalabi was a darling of the United States in the runup to its military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein before a drastic fallout.The one-time Pentagon protege and ex-member of an interim governing council in Iraq said from Iran on Sunday that he would return home to respond to fraud charges following the issuing of an arrest warrant against him in Baghdad.He described the allegations as “manufactured lies”.Chalabi’s intelligence reports bolstered Washington’s pre-war claims that Saddam stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, a charge used to justify military action that has so far proven to be ungrounded.- Nampa-AFPThat court will decide whether to refer them for trial by a higher tribunal, he added.Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, is currently in Tehran, while Salem, who heads the court to set up former dictator Saddam Hussein and figures of his regime, is in London.Ahmed is accused in particular of counterfeiting money, on charges which Maliky said had been brought by Iraq’s central bank following raids on his home in May.He said Salem was one of three accused in connection with the murder of Haithem Fadhil, director general of the Iraqi finance ministry, in April.Maliky refused to name the other two.Chalabi was a darling of the United States in the runup to its military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein before a drastic fallout.The one-time Pentagon protege and ex-member of an interim governing council in Iraq said from Iran on Sunday that he would return home to respond to fraud charges following the issuing of an arrest warrant against him in Baghdad.He described the allegations as “manufactured lies”.Chalabi’s intelligence reports bolstered Washington’s pre-war claims that Saddam stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, a charge used to justify military action that has so far proven to be ungrounded.- Nampa-AFP