Iraqi Trade Minister Dismissed

By John Lee.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sacked the Minister for Trade, Mlas Mohammed Al-Kasanzan [Abdulkarim Malas al-Kasnazani] (pictured), for failing to show up for work.

A statement from the Prime Minister's office said al-Kasnazani was dismissed because of his "absence ... from his duties as Minister of Commerce [i.e. Trade] for more than a month, whereby he has been considered to have resigned from his job."

An arrest warrant had been issued for Minister and his brother in October on charges of financial corruption, after he was suspected of awarding contracts without tenders to firms linked to his Jordan-based brother Nehru, a wealthy businessman who once had presidential aspirations.

(Source: Office of the Prime Minister)