Resigned trade minister arrested upon reaching Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Resigned Minister of Trade Abdulfalah al-Sudani on Saturday was arrested upon his arrival at Baghdad International Airport after his plane had been ordered to return to Baghdad, according to an airport official. “The arrest was made in accordance with a warrant issued by the judicial authorities,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told IraqiNews.com news agency. No comment was immediately available from a judicial source. Earlier today, a security source from the airport said that a plane carrying the resigned Iraqi minister of trade and on its way to the United Arab Emirates has been returned to Iraq less than one and a half hours after taking off from Baghdad International Airport. The chairman of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity (CPI), Sabah al-Saedi, said in a Baghdad-based press conference attended by IraqiNews.com news agency that a Samawa court had issued an arrest warrant for the Iraqi minister of trade. He added that Sudani was at the airport, planning to fly to Dubai. “The commission had contacted the airport and demanded the plane to be returned if it has taken off,” Saedi noted. The commission’s head explained that Sudani has a dual nationality of British and Iraqi, arguing that if he managed to leave the country and destroy his Iraqi identity, the commission will not be able to return him in order to hold him accountable for his actions. A few days ago, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accepted Sudani’s resignation, which was tendered on May 14. Sudani was questioned by the Parliament for two days on charges of “administrative and financial corruption.” SS (S) 1