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Iraq Issues Arrest Warrants for 'Heist of the Century'

Businessman Nour Zuhair who is wanted in the "heist of the century" in Iraq. (Facebook)
Businessman Nour Zuhair who is wanted in the "heist of the century" in Iraq. (Facebook)
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Iraq Issues Arrest Warrants for 'Heist of the Century'

Businessman Nour Zuhair who is wanted in the "heist of the century" in Iraq. (Facebook)
Businessman Nour Zuhair who is wanted in the "heist of the century" in Iraq. (Facebook)

An Iraqi criminal court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for a businessman and a former government official wanted over their alleged involvement in stealing $2.5 billion of public funds.

The scandal, dubbed the "heist of the century", sparked widespread anger in Iraq, which is ravaged by rampant corruption, unemployment and decaying infrastructure after decades of conflict.

The criminal court issued the warrants for businessman Nour Zuhair and Haitham al-Juburi, a former adviser to then prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, state news agency INA reported.

The two suspects are among several facing a trial which opened in mid-August, but are on the run and failed to appear in court.

Zuhair had a trial date on Tuesday, which he skipped, prompting the judge to issue the warrant for his arrest.

According to the tax authorities, the defendants allegedly expropriated the $2.5 billion between September 2021 and August 2022 through 247 cheques cashed by five companies.

The money was subsequently withdrawn -- in cash -- from the firms' accounts.

The owners of those accounts -- most of whom are also on the run -- have also been subject to arrest warrants.

Around 30 suspects are facing trial, INA reported, including six already behind bars or awaiting extradition to Iraq, the national anti-fraud agency has said.

In October 2022, Zuhair was arrested at Baghdad airport as he was trying to leave the country.

A month later he was released on bail after giving back more than $125 million and pledging to return the rest in instalments.

Juburi also returned $2.6 million of the allegedly embezzled funds before disappearing, a judicial source told AFP.

The current whereabouts of both men is unknown.

However, wealthy businessman Zuhair was back in the news over the few days after he reportedly had a car crash in Lebanon, following an interview he gave to an Iraqi news channel.

Various sources said his representatives had submitted a medical report to the presiding judge, who dismissed them.

Lebanese officials and sources had told Asharq Al-Awsat previously that Zuhair was indeed admitted to hospital in Beirut on Thursday after the accident, but his injuries were minor, so security authorities were not informed and he wasn’t even issued a medical report.

"The Nour Zuhair affair is a scandal... that concerns the entire political system," Iraqi journalist and commentator Hamed al-Sayyed told AFP.

He blamed the authorities for releasing him on bail two years ago, allowing him "to flee".

"His release from jail, at a time when he was being investigated, shows that the political system, at the highest echelons, is complicit," Sayyed added.

Corruption is endemic in Iraqi state institutions, with the top echelons of power often evading accountability.

Several observers cast doubt that Zuhair and Juburi’s trial will ever be held.

Journalist Ayyad al-Samawi wrote on the X platform: "Nour Zuhair will not appear in court because that would mean the entire political system in Iraq would be put on trial."

Iraqi expert Ghalib al-Daamy noted that Zuhair is now wanted at airports all over the world.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the Commission of Integrity has kicked off proceedings to extradite Zuhair to Iraq, noting that this effort requires the cooperation of the ministries of justice and foreign affairs.

After the file is complete, it will be handed to International Interpol and it will issue a Red Notice for Zuhair in two or three months, he explained.

Security officials had informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Zuhair holds a Jordanian passport and another Iraqi diplomatic passport and that airports were not notified to arrest him.

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Former Israeli Spies Describe Attack Using Exploding Electronic Devices against Lebanon’s Hezbollah

An ambulance rushes wounded people to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, on September 17, 2024, after explosions hit locations in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon amid ongoing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
An ambulance rushes wounded people to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, on September 17, 2024, after explosions hit locations in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon amid ongoing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
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Former Israeli Spies Describe Attack Using Exploding Electronic Devices against Lebanon’s Hezbollah

An ambulance rushes wounded people to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, on September 17, 2024, after explosions hit locations in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon amid ongoing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
An ambulance rushes wounded people to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, on September 17, 2024, after explosions hit locations in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon amid ongoing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)

Two recently retired senior Israeli intelligence agents shared new details about a deadly clandestine operation years in the making that targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and walkie talkies three months ago.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war, The Associated Press said.
The agents spoke with CBS “60 Minutes” in a segment aired Sunday night. They wore masks and spoke with altered voices to hide their identities.
One agent said the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah didn't realize it was buying from Israel, its enemy. The walkie-talkies were not detonated until September, a day after booby-trapped pagers were set off.
“We created a pretend world,” said the officer, who went by the name “Michael.”
Phase two of the plan, using the booby-trapped pagers, kicked in in 2022 after Israel's Mossad intelligence agency learned Hezbollah had been buying pagers from a Taiwan-based company, the second officer said.
The pagers had to be made slightly larger to accommodate the explosives hidden inside. They were tested on dummies multiple times to find the right amount of explosive that would hurt only the Hezbollah fighter and not anyone else in close proximity.
Mossad also tested numerous ring tones to find one that sounded urgent enough to make someone pull the pager out of their pocket.
The second agent, who went by the name “Gabriel,” said it took two weeks to convince Hezbollah to switch to the heftier pager, in part by using false ads on YouTube promoting the devices as dustproof, waterproof, providing a long battery life and more.
He described the use of shell companies, including one based in Hungary, to dupe the Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, into unknowingly partnering with the Mossad.
Hezbollah also was unaware it was working with Israel.
Gabriel compared the ruse to a 1998 psychological film about a man who has no clue that he is living in a false world and his family and friends are actors paid to keep up the illusion.
“When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad,” Gabriel said. “We make like ‘Truman Show,’ everything is controlled by us behind the scene. In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100% kosher including businessman, marketing, engineers, showroom, everything.”
By September, Hezbollah militants had 5,000 pagers in their pockets.
Israel triggered the attack on Sept. 17, when pagers all over Lebanon started beeping. The devices would explode even if the person failed to push the buttons to read an incoming encrypted message.
The next day, Mossad activated the walkie-talkies, some of which exploded at funerals for some of the approximately 30 people who were killed in the pager attacks.
Gabriel said the goal was more about sending a message than actually killing Hezbollah fighters.
“If he just died, so he’s dead. But if he’s wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and efforts,” he said. “And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of ‘don’t mess with us.’ They are walking proof of our superiority all around the Middle East.”
In the days after the attack, Israel's air force hit targets across Lebanon, killing thousands. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated when Israel dropped bombs on his bunker.
By November, the war between Israel and Hezbollah, a byproduct of the deadly attack by Hamas group in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, ended with a ceasefire. More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants, health officials have said.
The agent using the name “Michael” said that the day after the pager explosions, people in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners out of fear that they would explode, too.
“There is real fear,” he said.
Asked if that was intentional, he said, “We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are. We can’t use the pagers again because we already did that. We’ve already moved on to the next thing. And they’ll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is.”