Abdel Falah al-Sudani

Abdel Falah Hassan Hamadi al-Sudani is an Iraqi politician who was the Minister of Trade from May 2006 to May 2009 in the government of Nouri al-Maliki. He previously served as Education Minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government.

Sudani was born in Basra in 1947 and went into exile in Britain in the late 1970s. In 1981 received a doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of Wales. He is a member of the Islamic Dawa Party - Iraq Organisation.[1]

In June 2006 Australian troops mistakenly shot dead one of his bodyguards, provoking a diplomatic crisis.[2]

On 3 May 2009, arrest warrants were issued by the anti-corruption Integrity Commission on eight trade ministry officials, including two of al-Sudani's brothers and the head of the Iraqi Grain Board. The head of the Council of Representatives of Iraq's Integrity Committee, Sabah al-Saedi from the Islamic Virtue Party, called on al-Sudani to resign. al-Saedi said the ministry had become "a remarkable source of corruption and squandering of public funds" [3] When the official arrived to arrest the accused, there was a fifteen-minute gunbattle between Iraqi troops and ministry bodyguards. One suspect was arrested but the other eight managed to escape.[4]

Sudany appeared before the parliamentary committee on May 16 and 17, admitting that corruption had taken place and the system had to be changed.[5]

Al-Sudany resigned as Trade Minister on May 14. Prime Minister al-Maliki delayed accepting this whilst the parliamentary investigation was on-going, accepting the resignation on May 26.[5]

Al-Sudany faced a vote of no confidence on May 27 from the parliament to determine whether he should face criminal charges.[6] Three days later he was arrested at Baghdad airport as he was trying to fly to Dubai.[7] He was interrogated in prison by anti-corruption officials for eight days and then released on bail of 50 million dinars.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Ministers of Iraq, Middle East Reference
  2. ↑ Iraqi fury at Australian shooting, The Age, 2006-06-22, accessed on 2009-05-09
  3. ↑ Iraq issues warrants for trade chiefs over corruption, Reuters, 2009-05-03
  4. ↑ Gunfight Breaks Out as Iraqi Soldiers Try to Arrest Trade Officials, New York Times, 2009-05-02
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Iraq trade minister quits amid corruption allegations, Bloomberg L.P. via Sydney Morning Herald, 2009-05-26
  6. ↑ Iraq to arrest 1,000 'corrupt' officials, BBC, 2009-05-27
  7. ↑ "Dramatic plane arrest of ex-Iraq minister". BBC. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  8. ↑ Iraq ex-trade minister freed on bail after graft grilling, Zawya, 2009-06-07