Iraq's interim Defence Minister says the Government will arrest Iraqi National Congress (INC) leader Ahmad Chalabi, after the Eid al-Adha holiday, on suspicion of maligning the defence ministry.
The INC has emerged as a power broker for the country's Shiite majority and Mr Chalabi is a contender for the post of prime minister in the January 30 ballot.
Interim Iraqi Defence Minister Hamiz al-Shaalan says Mr Chalabi will be handed over to Interpol.
"We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol. We will arrest him based on facts that he wanted to malign the reputation of the defence ministry and defence minister," he said.
Mr Chalabi, a cousin and rival of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, was not immediately available for comment.
Mr Shaalan did not say how Mr Chalabi had tried to defame him but a spokesman for Mr Chalabi's INC alluded to the cause of the minister's remarks, which he made to the satellite television network, Al-Jazeera.
"He [Mr Chalabi] did not accuse anyone of anything. He (just) said that hundreds of millions of dollars have been moved by plane (and presumably flown out of Iraq) and asked the Iraqi state to investigate," the spokesman said.
Mr Shaalan also accused Mr Chalabi, of among other things, "stealing the daily bread of 1,500 families in (the) Petra Bank (case)".
In 1992, a Jordanian court sentenced Mr Chalabi in absentia to 22 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement of several hundred million dollars after his Petra Bank went bankrupt.
Mr Chalabi, who founded and ran the bank during a long period when he lived in the country, denies any wrongdoing.
