Iraq recovers $13 million frozen in French banks

BAGHDAD — Iraq has recovered $13 million in state funds that had been frozen in French banks under judicial orders, the Iraq Fund for Recovery of Assets said, following meetings during the prime minister’s visit to Paris last week.

The money has been deposited in Finance Ministry accounts after procedures completed in coordination with Arab Bank Switzerland, said fund chairman Mohammed Ali al-Lami, who also heads the Federal Commission of Integrity and travelled with Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s delegation. “The recovery came as a result of the follow-up and procedures undertaken by the fund in coordination and cooperation with the relevant international and local authorities,” he said, calling it “a new achievement added to the efforts made by the fund to pursue Iraqi funds and recover them from abroad.”

The fund did not say whose money it was, why it had been frozen, or how long it had been held.