Iraq's former trade minister Abdel Falah al-Sudani was arrested yesterday when trying to flee the country in the wake of a graft scandal after his plane was dramatically ordered back to Baghdad.
The minister was on board a flight to Dubai, which authorities turned back to the capital so that he could be arrested, said Sabah al-Saedi, head of the Iraqi parliament's corruption and integrity commission.
"The (former) minister was trying to escape from justice and was headed to the UAE," said Saedi.
"After some phone calls were made to judicial authorities and the airport, the airplane was turned back and the minister arrested," he added.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office last Monday announced that Sudani had resigned amid allegations of corruption and embezzlement linked to the nation's food assistance programme.
"An arrest warrant was issued against the minister under the charge of corruption," said Saedi.
"He is the main person responsible for corruption in the ministry."
A security official told AFP that Sudani was on flight PHW604 operated by Jupiter Airlines in Iraqi airspace over the southern city of Basra when the drama unfolded.
"At 1 p.m. the minister took the plane going to Dubai but representatives from the commission arrived at the airport with police shortly after," said the official on condition of anonymity.
"They contacted the plane and forced it to turn back. When it landed security personnel arrested the minister."
The security official said the former minister was being held at the airport after asking for a copy of his arrest warrant but would soon be taken into formal custody by the commission.
Sudani, a member of Maliki's Shiite Dawa faction, had already been questioned by parliament over claims relating to imports for Iraq's food rationing programme.
Maliki last Wednesday vowed to root out graft in the Iraqi government, after Sudani quit.
"We will institute reforms ...and we will search for the truth," Maliki told reporters after talks in Baghdad with senior trade ministry officials.
"We will not stand with arms folded in the face of corruption. We will pursue those who are corrupt and bring them before the courts," Maliki said, while placing the ministry under his authority.
Sudani was accused of importing expired commodities - mainly sugar - and procuring illegal contracts as well as failing to fight corruption in his ministry.
Maliki stressed last Wednesday he was immediately instituting measures to fight graft in Iraq.
"We will recruit new executives to replace those who are not qualified and we urge those in charge of purchases to sign contracts with large global companies directly rather than through intermediaries," Maliki said.
The Commission on Public Integrity, tasked with fighting corruption in Iraq, announced last Wednesday that 997 officials are being investigated for alleged graft, including 53 people ranked director general or higher.
It said 120 Iraqis were arrested for corruption in April and May.
Watchdog group Transparency International ranked Iraq in 2008 as the world's third-most corrupt country behind Somalia and Myanmar.