Ex-fugitive put up homes to spring Rezko

The front page story of the Sunday Chicago Sun-Times:

An ex-international fugitive helped spring Tony Rezko from jail earlier this month, putting up homes that comprise nearly one-third of the $8.5 million in property and cash securing Rezko's bail, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The three homes belonging to former Iraqi Electricity Minister Aiham Alsammarae -- a dual U.S.-Iraqi citizen who broke out of a Baghdad jail in 2006 -- are part of a long list made public in Rezko's case Friday following a Sun-Times request. Six of the other individuals who pledged property to get Rezko out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center on April 18 are current or former state employees.

Alsammarae put up $1.9 million in equity in his Oak Brook mansion, along with $840,000 in equity from two South Loop condominiums, according to court records. In recent days, he appeared in the downtown federal courthouse to pledge his property and signed papers related to Rezko's bail. That proceeding, however, was conducted in a private session with U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve and lawyers. Records from it weren't immediately released.
Interpol warrant active

International intrigue surrounds Alsammarae, who dramatically fled Iraq in late 2006 after being held on a corruption conviction he maintains was groundless. He and Rezko have been friends since they were classmates at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

U.S. court papers recently revealed that the feds once accused Rezko, a native of Syria, of paying Alsammarae a $1.5 million bribe when Alsammarae was electricity minister.

The bribe allegedly allowed a firm Rezko owned, Companion Security, to win a $50 million contract to train Iraqi power plant security guards, but the deal was left in limbo a month later because of a change in Iraq's leadership.

Rezko's lawyers have called the bribe accusation "baseless." Attempts to reach Alsammarae on Friday were unsuccessful.

An Interpol warrant against Alsammarae remains active, but U.S. authorities have shown no interest in arresting him.

The sleazy nature of Illinois politics knows no bounds.The tentacles of Tony Rezko are everywhere.You'll want to read the whole article.