Aiham Alsammarae—who is wanted by Interpol for the theft of $650 million of Iraqi reconstruction funds, and who is a former classmate and business partner to indicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko—"posted three properties [including his Oak Brook home] with a combined equity of nearly $2.8 million" to help Rezko be "released to home confinement on more than $8.5 million bail," the Chicago Tribune reported April 26, 2008.
As recently as April 13, 2008, in a months-old interview with Steve Croft, shown on CBS's 60 Minutes, the Interpol warrant was brought to Alsammarae's attention:
"I'm sitting here looking at a wanted poster from Interpol for Aiham Alsammarae, born 1951, Baghdad. Height: 1.9 meter, 75 inches, weight: 200 pounds,. This looks very much like you," Kroft said.
"Well it is me, but it is wrong because it is issued by Iraqi government based on false information," Alsammarae replied.
"You're not expecting the U.S. marshals to come in here and arrest you some day and send you off to Iraq to stand trial?" Kroft asked.
"Well, I will be so surprised if that happen in the States. Did I do anything wrong in United States? No. Did I pay my taxes, every penny, every year? Yes," he replied.
"Well, you're an international fugitive," Kroft remarked.
"The world is full of innocent victims. I am innocent and I will prove it," he vowed.
However, as Croft pointed out, Alsammarae's name "surfaced" in connection with Rezko's federal corruption trial:
In a closed-door session, federal prosecutors reportedly accused Rezko of bribing Alsammarae in order to obtain an Iraqi electricity contract. Alsammarae denies the charges and says he's doing everything possible to clear his name, short of going back to Baghdad where he says he will be killed, perhaps by Iraqis who are only getting a few hours of electricity every day, despite billions of dollars of investment from the U.S. and Iraqi governments.
It is simply amazing that Alsammarae came forward to provide Rezko with a $2.8 million surety for his release after the feds, during that March 5, 2008, closed-door session, "outright accused" Rezko of offering Alsammarae a $1.5 million bribe "to land" the Chamchamal power plant in Iraq contract.
It is simply amazing that Alsammarae, who is known by the feds to be an "international fugitive" wanted by Interpol, was not arrested. Why was he not?
Update: The Chicago Sun-Times adds April 26, 2008, that the Interpol warrant for Alsammarae "remains active, but U.S. authorities have shown no interest in arresting him" and that the State Department "declined to comment" why he had not yet been arrested. It also informed that Alsammarae could not be reached, which is consistent with other attempts over the past weeks.
1 comments:
This is an issue for Waxmen's committee looking at fraud in Iraqi reconstruction. Someone needs to ask if this is money skimmed from Iraq financing Mr. Rezko's bail.
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