MOSUL TIME RADIO
The accused of what is known in Iraq and internationally as the “Deal of the Century,” Nour Zuhair, who is charged with stealing tax deposit funds in Iraq amounting to 3.7 trillion Iraqi dinars, equivalent to a billion and a half dollars, confirmed that this money does not belong to the state treasury, indicating that It will expose many of those involved in a public trial .
In an interview with Al-Sharqiya Channel as part of the “Confrontation” program, which will be shown later, Zuhair said that the money in his possession belonged to “instruments and transactions audited by the Integrity Commission, and they are not state funds,” stressing by saying: “Not a single dinar belongs to the state .”
Zuhair added, “The theft of tax funds should be called the lie of tax funds,” pointing out that “one of the representatives who are clowning around now asked me for a house with a land area of 1,200 square meters on the condition that it be on Princesses Street (Al-Mansour area in Baghdad) .”
Zuhair confirmed that if he is tried, he will reveal all the names involved in the case, especially if the trial is public .
The Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court had set Wednesday, August 14, as the date for the trial of Nour Zuhair .
On Wednesday, member of the Iraqi Parliament, Mustafa Sanad, announced the postponement of the trial of the first accused in the case of tax deposits, known as the “theft of the century,” until the end of this month of August .
The “theft of the century” is represented by the disappearance of an amount of 3.7 trillion Iraqi dinars, equivalent to about two and a half billion dollars in tax deposit funds, and it was revealed by several concerned parties about two months before the end of the term of the previous Iraqi government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi .
An official letter issued by the Tax Authority revealed that the amount of $2.5 billion was withdrawn between September 2021 and August 2022 from the Rafidain Government Bank, through 247 financial instruments, issued to five companies, which disbursed them in cash directly, according to what Agence France-Presse reported . .
Following the discovery of the theft, the Integrity Commission and the Judicial Authority moved to investigate the case, and several judicial arrest warrants were issued. The first detainee was the businessman, Nour Zuhair .
Nour Zuhair is an Iraqi businessman and the “Delegate Director of (Al-Mubadoon) Oil Services Limited Company.” His full name is “Noor Zuhair Jassim Al-Muzaffar,” and his nickname is “Abu Fatima,” and he was born in Baghdad in 1980 .
He previously worked in Iraqi ports, before working as an advisor in the office of the Chairman of the former Parliamentary Finance Committee, according to a previous report on the “Radio Kurdistan ” website.
Reports indicate that Nour Zuhair owns more than 20 luxury properties in Baghdad, as well as money and companies .
On October 24, 2022, Nour Zuhair was arrested while trying to escape outside the country through Baghdad International Airport via a private plane.
