Iraq's defence minister reported for benefits fraud in Sweden: reports

[Mr. Goobii]

Iraq's defence minister, Najah al-Shammari, is also accused of heavy-handed treatment of protests in Iraq. Photo: Hadi Mizban/TT

Iraq's defence minister, Najah al-Shammari, has been reported for benefits fraud in Sweden after claiming child and housing support
for years, despite living in Baghdad.

Al-Shammari, who is registered in Sweden with the surname Najah Al-Adeli, emigrated to Sweden in 2009, became a Swedish citizen in 2015,
 and is still officially registered as living in the Stockholm suburb of Vårby.
 
According to Sweden's Expressen newspaper, al-Shammari and his wife were reported two weeks ago for benefits fraud after continuing to claim
 payments years after returning to Iraq.
 
According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, the 52-year-old has also previously received sick pay, claiming that memory problems left him unable
to work.A judgement in the Swedish Civil Courts obtained by Expressen stated that al-Shammari and his family had, "for a long time been partly
dependent on welfare support".
 
Neighbours who SVT visited also confirmed that al-Shammari and al-Adeli were the same person.
 
Toni Eriksson, press secretary for Sweden's defence minister Peter Hultqvist, confirmed to Swedish state broadcaster SVT on Friday that
Al-Shammari is a Swedish citizen -- something that was denied by the Iraqi political coalition that pushed for his appointment.
 
At about 6pm on Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence posted a statement up on its Facebook page dismissing the reports as
"a cheap attempt to discredit" the minister .
 
"We confirm that the minister has now hired a Swedish lawyer...in order to sure those Swedish and Arab newspapers and websites which
published this false information," the statement read.
 
"The minister is renowned for his bravery and stability and has followed to a tee the instructions of the highest military leader Adel
Adil Abdul Mahdi not to put demonstrators in danger but instead to support them and help them to carry out the peaceful demonstrations
which are their guaranteed right according to the constitution."
 
It is permitted for Iraqis to have dual citizenship, but under the country's constitution, those holding top ministerial positions are
required to renounce citizenships of foreign countries.
 
The story was first broken Nyheter Idag, a web newspaper with links to the populist Sweden Democrats that made its name by
breaking the story of widespread sexual assaults at a pop festival in Stockholm in 2015.
 
According to Nyheter Idag, Al-Shammari and his family arrange for post to be sent to the address and also return to Sweden for a
week every year to give the impression of living in the country. The newspaper also claimed that the couple had claimed that their children
attended a Stockholm private school.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Source: TheLocal

[Bogomil]

Deep inside he wants to be a Swedish citizen, but his responsibilities take that from him. If he sent his kids to Swedish private school he knows what is the best for them.