Ziyad Cattan

Ziyad Cattan is a dual citizen of Poland and Iraq.^[1] He earned a PhD in Economics.^[2] 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, the Defence Minister of Iyad Allawi's interim administration, appointed Ziyad Cattan, as the Defence Ministry's procurement chief.^[1] The Los Angeles Times reported that Cattan had been appointed by Iraq's American occupiers.^[2]

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.^[1] Of expenditures of between $US1 and 2 billion the article estimates only $US200 million worth of usable equipment were purchased.

In September 2005 The Independent reported that Cattan and his former boss Al-Shaalan, are both living in Jordan, and refusing comment.^[1] By November 2005 he had returned to Poland, and agreed to be interviewed by the Los Angeles Times.^[2]

In August 2007 The Guardian 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.^[3] The UK firm had a licence to import 40,000 surplus AK-47s from Yugoslavia, 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.