The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil has strongly denied allegations in a US lawsuit accusing him of involvement in the kidnapping and torture of Iraqi-American businesswoman Sara Saleem.
Saleem filed a lawsuit in the US. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, naming Mar Bashar Warda among 16 defendants allegedly involved in undermining her business and facilitating her abduction.
A spokesperson for Warda dismissed the claims, telling The Pillar he "categorically denies and rejects these defamatory allegations and will contest them vigorously".
The lawsuit alleges that in 2014, Saleem was kidnapped in Basra and tortured for a month after refusing to donate $2 million (£1,546,800) to Ahmed al-Maliki, son of Iraq’s then-Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
She claims she was targeted after securing a $100-million (£77,350,000) loan with business partner Nizar Hanna Nasri and his brothers for a housing project.
She later fled to the US, filing criminal complaints in 2021 and 2022.
While the Hanna brothers were convicted of fraud in 2023, they were later released and acquitted.
Warda is referenced 16 times in the legal documents, accused of assisting the Hanna brothers and facilitating a bribe.
The lawsuit also links him to Rayan al-Kildani, leader of the Babylon Movement, who is under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses.
The Chaldean Catholic Church has faced internal tensions, with Cardinal Louis Sako of Baghdad accusing Warda and other bishops of failing to attend a synod and conspiring against him.
Warda has denied these claims as well.