In summary, one can say that the lack of evidence has led to the case being dropped. I do not want to go into details due to secrecy, says prosecutor Jens Nilsson to TV4 News.
Najah al-Shammari was suspected of gross benefit fraud in Sweden after being reported by the municipality he lives in and by the Social Insurance Agency. It concerns subsistence allowance and housing allowance that he allegedly received.
Was on sick leave – received salary
According to an investigation from 2019, Najah al-Shammari was resident in Iraq and received full salary from the Iraqi state while simultaneously receiving benefits from Sweden as being on sick leave.
He was arrested at Arlanda in March this year after being detained in his absence, but was released shortly thereafter.
Now the investigation has been dropped.
It was dropped at the end of May regarding the municipality's report on subsistence allowance, and at the end of July regarding the Social Insurance Agency's report on housing allowance, says Jens Nilsson to Expressen.
Najah al-Shammari came to Sweden in 2009 and received permanent residence permit in 2011. He became a Swedish citizen in 2015.
Re-immigrated in 2023
When the criminal suspicions against him became known in 2019, he registered as emigrated, but only a year later, he was said to be back in Sweden. A formal registration as re-immigrated came only in 2023.
al-Shammari was an officer and general in the Iraqi army during the 1990s and parts of the 2000s. He has also been investigated by Swedish authorities for war crimes, but the case was later dropped.
