FEDERAL COURT | Ex-Iraq fugitive, a longtime pal, covers a third of his $8.5M bail
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A former Iraqi official and ex-international fugitive helped spring Tony Rezko from jail earlier this month, putting up homes that comprise nearly one-third of the $8.5 million in property and cash securing Rezko's bail, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
The three homes belonging to former Iraqi Electricity Minister Aiham Alsammarae — a dual U.S.-Iraqi citizen who broke out of a Baghdad jail in 2006 — are part of a long list made public in Rezko's case Friday following a Sun-Times request. Six other individuals who pledged property to get Rezko out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center on April 18 are current or former state employees.
Alsammarae put up $1.9 million in equity in his Oak Brook mansion, along with $840,000 in equity from two South Loop condominiums, according to court records. In recent days, he appeared in the downtown federal courthouse to pledge his property and signed papers related to Rezko's bail. That proceeding, however, was conducted in a private session with U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve and lawyers. Records from the proceeding weren't immediately released.
Iraqi high court cleared charges
International intrigue surrounds Alsammarae, who dramatically fled Iraq in late 2006 after being held on a corruption conviction that he maintains was groundless. Documents obtained by the Sun-Times indicate that an Iraqi high court cleared his charges. A letter dated April 8 from the High Judicial Council, Central Criminal Court, was recently sent to Interpol stating: "The decision of his conviction in absentia has been revoked by the Union Cessation Court." However, an Interpol warrant remains active, and officials Friday would not say why.
Alsammarae and Rezko have been friends since they were classmates at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
U.S. court papers recently revealed that the feds once accused Rezko, a native of Syria, of paying Alsammarae a $1.5 million bribe when Alsammarae was electricity minister.
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The Chicago Swamp is apparently a movable feast ...what a disgrace. Prayers for Iraq