ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi’s death this week came as he was working on several cases proving high-level corruption in the Iraqi government, a parliamentary committee said.
Hakim Zamili, head of the security committee of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw that he and his colleagues were awaiting the official medical report into the sudden death of Chalabi, who died of a heart attack on Tuesday, aged 71.
“Chalabi had many significant files about corruption and those files were proving the involvement of Iraqi political parties and Iraqi corrupt leaders,” Zamili said.
He refused to speculate about the circumstances of the death, saying only that Chalabi passed away just as Iraq’s national budget arrived in the Iraqi Parliament for debate.
There have been unsubstantiated reports in the Iraqi media that Chalabi was poisoned or strangled to death.
Chalabi had been a controversial politician who crusaded in Washington for the ouster of Saddam Hussein but later demanded that US troops withdraw. The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq was in part based on faulty intelligence provided by Chalabi.
The late powerful politician held many posts in the Iraqi government, including deputy prime minister and oil minister, and was a leading force against Saddam’s Baath Party. He survived at least one assassination attempt in 2008 that killed six of his bodyguards.
Chalabi is believed to be survived by his wife Leila, and four children.
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