Arrest warrant issued for New Generation leader Shaswar Abdulwahid in fraud case
Shaswar Abdulwahid, the leader of the New Generation Movement (Newey Nwê), Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2018. Photo: Abdulwahid’s FB
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— A court in Sulaimani city in Iraqi Kurdistan issued an arrest order for New Generation President and businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid late on Sunday in connection with a fraud lawsuit.
Multiple shareholders of Chavi Land Entertainment, an amusement park in Sulaimani, have protested the leader’s handling of the business and filed complaints against Abdulwahid for failing to pay them any dividends over the past few years.
The lawsuit alleges that Abdulwahid deceived investors in the Chavy Land amusement park and violated Article 456 of the Iraqi Penal Code.
Punishment for the crime can carry a sentence anywhere between three months to five years imprisonment should the person be convicted, according to the Iraqi penal code.
Located in Sulaimani, Chavy Land is a major tourist attraction in Iraqi Kurdistan region. The amusement park project houses roller coaster rides, a telefric, a wax museum, a movie theatre, fountains, restaurants, hotels, social clubs, green spaces, and several cafeterias and fast-food joints.
Over the past few years, many of its shareholders criticized Abdulwahid, stating that in the past seven years, they had only received IQD 80,000 (US $67) for their investments.
They claim that since 2011, they have invested $22 million in the project, but so far have been paid twice: IQD 30,000 ($25) for each $1 million in 2013 and IQD 50,000 ($42) in 2016.
They accuse Abdulwahid, who also owns Nalia Group Company, of failing to compensate them for the following years: 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Abdulwahid’s office told NRT TV that it was aware of the order from media coverage, but that he had not yet been served.
His office said they believed that the order is likely connected with one of two currently active lawsuits against Abdulwahid, one of which was filed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Fourth Division and one by the family of the late-Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Secretary-General Jalal Talabani.
A lawyer for the New Generation Movement told NRT that the lawsuit was an attempt to politically intimidate Abdulwahid and the Movement, but that they would not be deterred.
“We are sure the reason for these lawsuits, pressures, and arrests is that we refuse to be submissive to the ruling parties. We won’t sell ourselves,” the lawyer added.
“If we had sold ourselves, then they wouldn’t be doing this. In fact they would be laying out the red carpet for us.”
Earlier in May, a local court in Sulaimani issued an arrest warrant for Abdulwahid who was being accused of “misusing a communication device” to threaten others. He was detained in jail for two weeks before being released on bail.
His arrest came after one of his party’s female lawmaker, Shadi Nawzad, issued a public condemnation against Abdulwahid on April 24. She claimed in a press conference in front of the Kurdistan Parliament that the party leader, using a fake WhatsApp number, threatened to release an alleged sex tape filmed without her consent in a house located in the German Village Complex, a residential complex owned by Abdulwahid himself.
Shortly afterwards, Abdulwahid accused the Sulaimani security forces of conducting a politically-motivated attack against New Generation.
“They want to target and defame the New Generation and me. We have resisted in the past as much as we could,” Abdulwahid told reporters at a press conference in Sulaimani on Friday.
The New Generation, founded in 2018, currently holds four seats in Iraq’s 329-seat parliament and eight in the 111-seat Kurdistan regional parliament.
The party has been facing internal turmoil with two of its lawmakers in Baghdad, who are also members of the party’s leadership council, abandoning New Generation and serving as independents under a new parliamentary bloc.
Three other lawmakers from New Generation, this time in the Kurdistan Parliament, have also raised concerns about the path the party leader is taking.
Senior members and lawmakers of the party have criticized Abdulwahid for bringing his family members into the party structure and “turning it to a business, while ignoring the opinions of other leadership members.”
He was in custody between May 16 and May 30 and denied the charges.
He was also briefly detained in March on defamation charges.
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