Iraq ex-minister denies graft charges, slams govt

DUBAI, Jan 8 (Reuters) A former Iraqi minister who escaped a Baghdad jail last month said today that corruption charges against him had been trumped up by a Shi'ite-led government which he said was ruling the country along sectarian lines.

Ayham al-Samarraie, electricity minister in the former transitional government of Iyad Allawi, said he was being punished for his opposition to Iranian influence, but would not be forced out of the political process.

''Because I said that we have to talk to the Baathists, we have to talk to the insurgents, we have to bring back the Iraqi army and security and police because they can fix the country ... I got a lot of enemies on the Iranian side,'' he told a news conference in the Gulf Arab city of Dubai.

''The Iraqi government now is a sectarian government ... Some of them represent Iran more than Iraq.'' Samarraie, a secular Sunni who spent years in exile in the United States and holds dual Iraqi and US citizenship, flew to Jordan after escaping from jail with the help of what he said ''were a group of Iraqis and foreigners including Americans''.

He said the US embassy was not involved in his breakout. The embassy has said it is working with the Iraqi government, which is investigating Samarraei's disappearence from Iraq. Samarraie said the Iraqi Supreme Court had already ordered his release on bail but he decided to break out and flee Iraq because he feared for his life in the lawless capital.

''The Supreme Court decided on Dec. 11 to release me and on December 17 they said that I had to go... Based on Iraqi procedures, they have to take me outside the Green Zone for fingerprints ...

''If they took me outside the Green Zone, I would ... have been kidnapped or killed immediately.'' He did not say which passport he escaped on or give details of his escape, but said he planned to return to the United States. He has been staying in Jordan, where he has residency.

Samarraie had been detained at a police station on the outskirts of the Green Zone, a heavily fortified compound that houses the Iraqi government and the US and British embassies.

He was convicted in October and sentenced to two years in jail for misuse of 200,000 dollars in public funds. The conviction was overturned on appeal but he continued to be held.

He said another 11 corruption charges against him had already been dropped for lack of evidence.

Reuters BDP GC2125