Looks Like in the New Iraq, Even the Top Guy Has to Face Justice

[Kevin]

Judge: Warrants issued for Chalabi and nephew
Chalabi on counterfeiting charges, nephew facing murder case

Sunday, August 8, 2004 Posted: 3:47 PM EDT (1947 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for Ahmed Chalabi, a former governing council member, on counterfeiting charges and another for Salem Chalabi, the head of Iraq's special tribunal, on murder charges, Iraq's chief investigating judge said Sunday.

The warrant was a new sign of the fall of Ahmed Chalabi from the centers of power. Chalabi, a longtime exile opposition leader, had been a favorite of many in the Pentagon but fell out with the Americans earlier this year.

His nephew, Salem Chalabi, heads the tribunal that is due to try Saddam on war crimes charges.

"They should be arrested and then questioned and then we will evaluate the evidence, and then if there is enough evidence, they will be sent to trial," said Judge Zuhair al-Maliky.

The warrants, issued Saturday, accused Ahmed Chalabi of counterfeiting old Iraqi dinars -- which had been removed from circulation following the fall of Saddam's regime last year, he said.

Ahmed Chalabi appeared to have been hiding the counterfeit money amid other old money and changing it into new dinars in the street, he said.

Police found the counterfeit money along with old dinars in Ahmed Chalabi's house during a May raid, he said.

Salem Chalabi was named as a suspect in the June killing of the Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry.

Both men were reportedly out of the country Sunday.

Haidar al-Moussawi, Ahmed Chalabi's spokesman, said members of his Iraqi National Congress had heard of the arrest warrants only through the media.

"Such a warrant has been issued, but no one called any of the accused or gave them a chance before issuing the arrest warrant," he said.

"These are very bad indications about the state of justice and law in the new Iraq," he said.

If convicted, Salem Chalabi could face the death penalty, which was restored on Sunday, al-Maliky said. Any sentence for Ahmed Chalabi would be determined by the trial judges, he said.

Ahmed Chalabi was a senior member of the Governing Council, which ran Iraq from the fall of Saddam until the formation of the interim government in June.

But he fell out with the Americans, and allegations surfaced that he supplied Iranians with classified U.S. intelligence on American monitoring of Iranian communications.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/....ap/index.html