Ali Allawi, the Finance Minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government, accused al-Shaalan of embezzlement in 2005, and Iraq's anti-corruption watchdog, the Commission for Public Integrity, sought to bar him from running in the following parliamentary elections.
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He appointed Ziyad Cattan, as the Defence Ministry's procurement chief, who has since fallen under suspicion of involvement in the greatest theft in history- embezzling $1bn intended for weapons purchase.
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al-Shaalan claimed that the Coalition Provisional Authority's interim administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, had signed off the appointment of Cattan, but Bremer claims he had never heard of Cattan.
According to an article published in The Independent (UK), on September 19, 2005, Hazim al-Shaalan, Defense Minister of Iyad Allawi's interim administration, appointed Ziyad Cattan, as the Defence Ministry's procurement chief.