Ziyad Cattan is a dual citizen of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. He earned a PhD in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. 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, Defence Minister of

Iyad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the ...

's interim administration, appointed Ziyad Cattan, as the Defence Ministry's procurement chief. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' reported the 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 was purchased. In September 2005 ''The Independent'' reported that Cattan and his former boss al-Shaalan, are both living in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, 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 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reported that Amnesty International 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 a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

s from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, 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 people {{Iraq-politician-stub