The National – Revealed: The UK suburban homes where bribed Iraqi officials fled mobile phone corruption fallout

Wembley, London, file photo (Cmglee/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sirwan Barzani and his company Korek Telecom “bribed” officials at Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC) with two houses in London to ensure their support in defrauding Iraq Telecom, The National has reported citing legal documents.

The report names Ali Al Khwildi and Safa Rabee from the CMC as beneficiaries of a house each in 2016, one near the city’s iconic Wembley Stadium. An arbitration tribunal between Korek and Iraq Telecom – a joint venture between Kuwait’s Agility and France’s Orange – found that Sirwan Barzani and Korek “did bribe and corrupt CMC officials”, according to the National. The report added: “The two CMC officials are alleged to have enabled the expropriation of Iraq Telecom’s assets, the tribunal found.”