http://newsfromrussia.com/accidents/2005/01/23/57938.html
Pravda.RU:Accidents:More in detail
Ahmed Chalabi is going to be arrested
05:31 2005-01-23
Top Iraqi officials disputed reports that former Iraqi exile leader Ahmed
Chalabi would be arrested, a day after the interim defense minister said an
apprehension was to happen soon.
Some Iraqi officials described Defense Minister Hazem Sha'alan's comment
on Friday as "electioneering" before the critical January 30 vote, in which
both he and Chalabi are contenders for the 275-member transitional national
assembly.
Sha'alan told the the Arabic-language TV network Al-Jazeera that Chalabi
would be handed over Sunday to Interpol, the international police agency, to
face bank-fraud charges in Jordan.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry does not have the jurisdiction to issue arrest
warrants, Iraqi officials told CNN. The Justice Ministry issues warrants and
sends them to the Interior Ministry to be carried out, reports CNN.
According to ABC News, insurgents said they had executed 15 kidnapped
Iraqi National Guardsmen for cooperating with U.S. forces, while the Iraqi
government on Saturday insisted its security measures would be sufficient to
protect crucial elections amid an escalation of violence.
The interior minister announced new security measures, saying Baghdad's
international airport would be closed Jan. 29 and 30, the day of the election,
and that many parts of the country would be under a nighttime curfew for three
days around the time of the balloting.
"There are dangers and there are threats to throw the elections process
into chaos, but we hope that our security plan will be up to the standards. We
don't rule out an escalation from the terrorist forces," the minister, Falah
al-Naqib, told reporters.
Organizers extended the registration for overseas absentee voting in
Iraq's national election by two days to Tuesday because the turnout so far in
the weeklong campaign to allow Iraqis abroad to vote has been far below
expectations, the International Organization for Migration said Saturday.
++++
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=6690
Ahmed Chalabi to be handed to the Interpol1/22/2005 7:20:00 AM GMT
Chalabi fell out of favor with his U.S. backers for allegedly leaking
intelligence to Iran
Iraq's defense minister Hazem al-Shaalan said on Friday that the Iraqi interim
government would arrest Iraqi National Congress (INC) leader, and former ally
to the United States, Ahmed Chalabi right after the Muslims Feast, for seeking
to harm his and his ministry's reputation.
However the interim defense minister didn't mention how exactly had Chalabi
tried to defame him or his ministry, but a spokesman INC rejected the
minister's remarks.
Mr. Shaalan made his remarks while speaking to the Arab satellite news channel
Al-Jazeera, although his government has banned the channel from reporting in
Iraq last August.
Chalabi "did not accuse anyone of anything. He (just) said that hundreds of
millions of dollars have been moved by plane (and presumably flown out of Iraq)
and asked the Iraqi state to investigate," Haidar al-Musawi told the news
channel.
Al Jazeera quoted the Iraqi defense minister as saying that Chalabi will be
arrested and handed to Interpol over his conviction in absentia by a Jordanian
court in 1992 of embezzling millions from Petra Bank, which collapsed in 1989.
Although Chalabi is the founder of the bank and ran for quite a long period, he
denies the accusations.
"We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol. We will arrest him based on
facts that he wanted to malign the reputation of the defense ministry and
defense minister," Mr. Shaalan was quoted as saying.
"Our measures (to arrest him) will be after the Eid," he said, referring to the
current Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, 'Feast of Sacrifice', which began on
Jan. 20 and ends on Sunday in most Arab states.
Chalabi, cousin of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, couldn't be immediately
reached for comment.
In remarks published Friday by the London-based newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat,
Mr. Shaalan said that Ahmed Chalabi, a leading figure of the opposition to
Saddam before the U.S. invasion, accused the defense minister in an interview
of stealing $500 million from the ministry and posted documents on an internet
site; accusing him of having links to the toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.
Chalabi was known for his friendship to Washington but after the U.S.
occupation and after ousting Saddam Hussein, he turned into a vocal critic of
U.S. policy in Iraq.
Last year, a U.S.-appointed judge issued a warrant for Chalabi's arrest on
charges of counterfeiting money, but those charges were dropped in September
due to lack of evidence.
In his Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi brought together all foes of the former
Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, part of his efforts, lead by the U.S.-appointed
Governing Council to remove members of the Baath party from positions of power.
Chalabi fell out of favor with his U.S. backers for allegedly leaking
intelligence to Iran.
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