Reports indicate the Iraqi Parliament Regularizing Commission, in charge of following up on the Russian arms deal, has issued arrest warrant recommendations for former government spokesman Ali Dabbagh and president advisor Abdolaziz al-Badri, the Kuwait-based al-Seyassah daily reported on January 23. In a climate of intense concealment, this case is causing increasing polarization between the Iraqi Parliament, prime minister and the judiciary. The parliamentary informed sources said that al-Badri and Dabbagh, with support of political sides, are preparing to leave the country as soon as possible before their arrest warrants circulates.
A high ranking source in Muqtada Sadr block told Al-Seyassah that Maliki has asked all relevant parties to wait for asking arrest warrants particularly for Dabbagh. This source added that Dabbagh has threatened if Maliki agrees on his arrest warrant he would reveal the role of Iranian and Syrian regimes in the arm deal.
Maliki told Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi that Russian President Vladimir Putin informed him al-Badri and al-Dabbagh had demand $195 million as commission for this arms deal, which the Defense Ministry intended to sign at a price of over $4 billion.
One senior Kurdish official informed al-Seyassah the Kurdish leadership is not convinced of the trend of corruption being found in the arms deal with Russia, neither by the findings nor the timing. This trend portrays Maliki as a main enemy of corruption while intelligence indicates the prime ministry secretariat is the place where large corruption cases are actually held, the official added.
Various secret reports indicate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards command also played a major role in this deal and there is a strong suspicion that part of the arms consignment was to be sent to the Assad regime, the official added. Then, we witnessed remarks made by Maliki and his advisors regarding corruption and fraud in this deal, all aimed at misleading attention to other issues, he continued.