Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Trump administration has revoked former Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi’s US visa after she was put on an FBI terrorist blacklist.
The US State Department announced the decision on Friday, stating Sami, Iraq’s finance minister from 2022 to July 2026, had her visa canceled after the FBI added her to its terrorist blacklist.
US authorities did not explain why they included her on the list.
Officials said that Sami had already departed the United States before his visa was canceled.
The action precludes her from returning on that visa.
The discovery comes weeks after Sami was implicated in a broader corruption probe in Iraq.
An Iraqi court summoned the former minister earlier this month, and she was allegedly put on a judicial wanted list as authorities probed charges against high political and government officials.
She was thought to be outside Iraq and had not been captured.
The summons is not a conviction, and Iraqi police have not shown Sami’s crime in court.
Her inclusion on the US terrorist blacklist is unrelated to the Iraqi corruption inquiry, and US officials have not publicly said if the two cases are related.
The action marks a significant shift in Washington’s approach to Sami.
Before becoming finance minister in 2022, she was named to the State Department’s International Women of Courage Award while working as Iraq’s deputy finance minister and budget director-general.
The department at the time recognized her as playing a key role in efforts to combat corruption in Iraq’s public finances.
At the 2022 award ceremony, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken lauded Sami’s anti-corruption efforts, emphasizing her work exposing financial scams and defending public resources.
In October 2022, previous Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani’s cabinet appointed Sami as Finance Minister, and she served in that role until July of this year.
Her story has given the anti-corruption fight in Baghdad a worldwide dimension.
Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi’s administration has started a series of investigations, arrests, and asset seizures aimed at former and current officials to recoup public monies and strengthen state control.
The State Department has not publicly explained the information behind the FBI watchlist decision or announced any criminal charges against Sami in the United States.
The FBI’s public Most Wanted Terrorists list should not be confused with the larger terrorist blacklist maintained by the US government; Sami is not included on the public Most Wanted Terrorists site.
Leave a comment