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Chalabi fell from grace after being Washington favourite |
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Posted on 05/23/2004 12:42:28 PM PDT by Ranger
Sunday 23 May 2004, 17:20 Makka Time, 14:20 GMT
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Jordan has said a prison cell still awaits Washington's former Iraq favourite Ahmad Chalabi in the kingdom where he was convicted in his absence of embezzling millions in a bank scandal.
US troops and Iraqi police raided Chalabi's home and office in Baghdad on Thursday, marking an ignominious fall from grace for the one-time exile who helped make the case against Saddam Hussein and was once touted by US officials as a possible Iraqi leader.
US officials had earlier said they cut off funding to Chalabi, a member of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council.
"Chalabi was sentenced in Jordan and he is wanted for the verdict to be carried out," Jordanian government spokeswoman Asma Khadir told Reuters on Sunday. She did not say if Jordan was actively seeking the former banker's extradition.
Chalabi was convicted by a Jordanian court in 1992 of embezzling millions from Petra Bank whose 1989 collapse shook Jordan's political and financial system, forcing it to spend in excess of $400 million to bail out depositors.
Hard labour awaits
A sentence of 22 years hard labour awaits the man who was once one of Jordan's most influential figures.
Chalabi, who fled the country as the scandal broke, denies wrongdoing and says the charges were politically motivated.
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"Chalabi has the right to appeal the verdict which was issued in absentia. He can defend himself" |
Jordanian authorities say they unravelled a web of gross irregularities at Petra Bank, which Chalabi founded and ran during a long residence in the country, involving the siphoning of depositors' money to Chalabi's offshore accounts.
A Jordanian member of parliament, who last year headed a parliamentary campaign demanding the government seek Chalabi's extradition from Iraq, said he would renew the request.
Demanding extradition
"Last year, we called on the government to extradite Chalabi but we felt that the authorities refrained from entering into battles at the time," Mahmud Kharabsha said.
Jordan has not sought to have Chalabi extradited because of legal and political concerns.
"Chalabi has the right to appeal the verdict which was issued in absentia. He can defend himself," said Kharabsha, also a lawyer.
Chalabi says he was made a scapegoat for years of corruption and mismanagement in Jordan that triggered a currency collapse and precipitated an economic and political crisis in 1989.
He has accused Jordanian officials of framing him under pressure from Saddam. The ousted Iraqi regime's financial dealings built fortunes for many Jordanians.
So why aren't we grabbing his butt and turning him over to Jordan?
Are we now the world's policeman? Let Jordan prove their own case and enforce their own law.
An American ally is disgraced and Al-Jazeera cheers.
Tailgunner Joe wrote:
Are we now the world's policeman? Let Jordan prove their own case and enforce their own law.
Prove it.
I am NOT up for fighting with you today.
I am short on sleep and in the middle of getting ready to move.
Some other time!
I guess that's why Chalabi is still walking around free and not even charged with anything. The CIA just doesn't "feel like" proving their case. Nothing new there.
Hmmmm.... This guy has pissed off the US and apparently hasn't won any friends with the jihadi's backed by Al Jazera either.
About the only folks still sticking up for Chalabi are the American Jihadi's as backed by CNN ( ie. American Liberals ) and they as a group are more impotent than the French.
Was Chalabi reading the book how to win friends and influence people or was he writing a sequel ?
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