An investigation into the kidnapping of five Britons in Iraq has uncovered evidence of possible collusion by Iraqi government officials in their abduction, and a possible motive: to keep secret the whereabouts of billions of dollars in embezzled funds.
A former high-level Iraqi intelligence operative and a current senior government minister, who has been negotiating directly with the hostage-takers, have told the Guardian that the kidnapping of Peter Moore and his four bodyguards in 2007 was not a simple snatch by a band of militants, but a sophisticated operation, almost certainly with inside help. Only Moore is thought to still be alive.
QUIET
Witnesses to the extraordinary operation that led to the abductions have also told the Guardian that they have been warned by superiors to keep quiet.
“This operation was on a state level, not al-Qaeda. Only the state has the capability to carry this out,” one of the sources said.
The Guardian can also reveal that there was a sixth Westerner working with the IT specialist Moore at the time of the kidnapping. The man, whose identity is known to the Guardian, narrowly avoided being captured by hiding in a toilet at the Iraqi finance ministry, where the abductions took place.
Over the last 10 months the Guardian has interviewed senior Iraqi figures and witnesses, as well as the former British military officer who investigated the kidnapping for the men’s employers. Their accounts allege that the hostage-takers had contacts in the Iraqi government, but also that officials in the defense ministry warned off witnesses to the kidnapping.
The investigation has also uncovered compelling evidence that the one of the key motives behind the kidnappings may have been the nature of the work the hostages were doing in fighting massive corruption in Iraq’s government ministries.
Moore was employed to install a computer tracking system that would have followed billions of dollars of oil and foreign aid money through the finance ministry.
The “Iraq financial management information system” was about to go online at the time of the kidnapping.
“Many people don’t want a high level of corruption to be revealed. Remember this is the information technology centre [at the ministry of finance], this is the place where all the money to do with Iraq and all Iraq’s financial matters are housed,” the senior intelligence source said.
‘LIKELY DEAD’
The bodies of two British security guards, Jason Cresswell and Jason Swindlehurst, were handed over to the British embassy in Baghdad last month. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the remaining two guards, Alan McMenemy and Alec MacLachlan, were “very likely” dead.
The UK Foreign Office told the Guardian: “We have never ruled out the possibility that the hostage-takers may have received advance notice or other assistance from sympathizers ... But since the beginning we have worked closely with Iraqi counterparts at all levels that we can trust, including the police, and continue to have excellent cooperation with them.”
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