Ziyad Cattan is a dual citizen of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
.
[
He earned a ]PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in Economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
.[
During the twenty years he lived in Poland Cattan operated both a used car and a pizza companies.
According to an article published in ''The Independent'', on 19 September 2005, Hazim al-Shaalan, the Defence Minister of Iyad Allawi's interim administration, appointed Ziyad Cattan, as the Defence Ministry's procurement chief.][
The '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' reported that Cattan had been appointed by Iraq's American occupiers.[
''The Independent'' article describes massive fraud in the Defence Ministry's procurement, which it describes as "the greatest theft in history", which occurred under Cattan's watch.][
Of expenditures of between $US1 and 2 billion the article estimates only $US200 million worth of usable equipment were purchased.
In September 2005 ''The Independent'' reported that Cattan and his former boss Al-Shaalan, are both living in ]Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
, and refusing comment.[
By November 2005 he had returned to Poland, and agreed to be interviewed by the ''Los Angeles Times''.][
In August 2007 '']The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' reported that Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
and British Members of Parliament were pressing the UK Government for an explanation over Cattan's involvement with a British arms-dealing firm.[
The UK firm had a licence to import 40,000 surplus ]AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...
s from Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
, but had sent Yugoslavian weapons to Cattan, for Iraq. International regulations, to control the distribution of weapons, requires certification to confirm buyers were the end-users, and would not resell the weapons they received. ''The Guardian'' reported that the lack of compliant documentation meant that weapons sold to Cattan were now untraceable, and thus a breach of international arms agreements.
References
Polish businesspeople
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Iraqi businesspeople
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