World Bulletin / News Desk

Interpol Thursday handed over to Iraq a former minister arrested in Beirut over a conviction for corruption, in a first such collaboration with the international police body, a government source said.

"It's the first time that Interpol responds to a government request at that level."

Sudani was arrested in Beirut in September.

In 2012, the former minister, who belongs to the Dawa party of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, was sentenced in absentia to seven years imprisonment for corruption.

He was linked to a scandal over the import of adulterated tea products during his mandate.

In 2009, he was arrested as he tried to flee the country after having been sacked and charged. He was released on payment of a bail of $43,000 but again fled.

Under an amnesty law, Iraqi officials can escape jail terms if they pay sums which have allegedly been pilfered from public coffers.

Abadi, whose country ranks as the world's 10th most corrupt, said he met Thursday with Interpol's secretary general, Juergen Stock, at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.