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A news outlet has revealed that the current Iraqi Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari is a Swedish citizen with a criminal record while enjoying years of benefits in Sweden for an alleged “memory problems”.
According to an investigation by Swedish news outlet Nyheter Idag, Shammari holds Swedish citizenship and previously lived in the suburb of Stockholm, an allegation that his party, al-Wataniya or the National Coalition, denied when it nominated the Iraqi politician for the ministerial post.
Shammari moved to Sweden in 2009 and his family followed him three years later. In 2015, he was granted citizenship despite documents showing that he had failed to understand simple Swedish, even after several years of language courses designed specifically for immigrants, Sputnik cited the report.
In Sweden, Shammari was on full-time sick leave due to memory problems and claimed to be too ill to work. He and his family were allocated an apartment in one of Stockholm’s suburbs and after showing modest incomes in 2013 and 2014, failed to show any income at all.
However, records showed that Shammari traveled with his family members to Iraq at least twice and, during a 2014 trip, even paid for a LASIK eye treatment for one of his children.
In 2015, he was suspected of insurance fraud, but a preliminary investigation was later closed. The following year, he was charged with another offense, but the case was written off the day before the trial for some reason, and he was released from custody, the report added.
However, his testimony during questioning is consistent with his CV as Iraqi Defence Minister – namely, a career military man and army general specializing in fighting extremism and terrorism, Nyheter Idag pointed out.
Najah Al-Shammari was appointed Defence Minister of Iraq in June this year. In April, his party, the National Coalition, denied reports that he had acquired Swedish citizenship and described him as a “patriotic figure who has the competence that make him capable of facing the challenges of the post”.
At about 200,000 or 2 percent of the Swedish population, the Iraqi diaspora is Sweden’s third-largest after Syrians and Finns.
Source: sputniknews
