BAGHDAD:Iraqi authorities on Thursday took into custody a former trade minister convicted in absentia for corruption cases, following his extradition from Lebanon, Iraq’s corruption watchdog said in a statement.
Trade Minister Abdul Falah Al-Sudany resigned in 2009 and fled the country in connection with graft allegations involving Iraq’s food rations program, one of the world’s biggest.
Iraq’s Integrity Commission on Thursday evening issued a statement confirming the return of Al-Sudany after reaching a deal with the Lebanese authorities late last year allowing the extradition of the ex-trade minister.
“Former trade minister Abdul Falah Al-Sudany is now in the integrity commission custody,” the statement said.
The corruption watchdog said Interpol contributed to the arrest of Al-Sudany after reaching Beirut in September 2017.
Al-Sudany is wanted for at least nine corruption cases and received eight imprisonment sentences in absentia for graft charges related to food import violations, the corruption watchdog said in the statement.
Iraq is one of the world’s biggest importers of wheat and rice. Several Trade Ministry officials have faced corruption allegations in the past.
The ministry buys hundreds of thousands of tons a year of sugar, lentils, grains and other food and basic household goods to supply a national ration program.
Iraq receives ex-trade minister convicted on graft charges from Lebanon
Iraq receives ex-trade minister convicted on graft charges from Lebanon
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Israel agrees to ‘limited reopening’ of Rafah crossing: PM’s office
- The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it would allow a “limited reopening” of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt once it had recovered the remains of the last hostage in the Palestinian territory.
The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza.
Reopening Rafah forms part of a Gaza truce framework announced by US President Donald Trump in October, but the crossing has remained closed after Israeli forces took control of it during the war.
The Israeli military also said it was searching a cemetery in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, a non-commissioned officer in the police’s elite Yassam unit.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the reopening would depend on “the return of all living hostages and a 100 percent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said on X.
It said Israel’s military was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” Gvili’s body.
“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,” it said.
