BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Ahmad Chalabi, once a favored adviser to the United States, is accused of counterfeiting old Iraqi dinars in Iraqi arrest warrants.
Chalabi is a former member of the Iraq governing council. From Iran where he is attending an economic conference he called the charges "outrageous."
The Iraqi government warrants were issued Saturday. The old Iraqi dinars were removed from circulation after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last year.
The al Jazeera Arabic language news network also reported from Baghdad that Chalabi's nephew, Salim Chalabi -- a consultant to the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein -- is named in an arrest warrant, charged with murder.
Salim Chalabi is accused of being linked to the murder of the director general of the finance ministry, Haitham Fadil. He called the charges "ridiculous."
The United States cut off its more than $300,000-a-month payments to Ahmed Chalabi's political party while he became critical of the U.S. role in the country to which he returned in 2003 as a candidate for the interim Iraqi presidency.
