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Iraq: $4.2 Bln Russian Arms Deal â€˜Canceledâ€™

10 November 2012 13:10 (UTC +04:00)

Russia and Iraq had touted the agreement to deliver Russian attack helicopters and mobile air-defense systems following last monthâ€™s visit to Moscow by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, during which he met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev.

"When Maliki returned from his trip to Russia, he had some suspicions of corruption, so he decided to review the whole deal," a spokesman for Maliki told AFP on Saturday.

"There is an investigation going on, on this," he added.

Another Iraqi official, Hakem al-Zamali, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, said: "The (Iraqi) prime minister has formed a new committee to negotiate with Russia for buying more sophisticated arms than the ones in the cancelled deal."

At the time the deal was announced in October, the Russian press had hailed it as the countryâ€™s largest since 2006.