Petra Bank was a Jordan-based bank founded by Ahmed Chalabi and used by the Iraqi refugee community in Jordan as its principal financial institution. Per John Kiriakou: “Petra Bank was the go-to bank for Iraqi refugees. All the Iraqis living in Jordan, they all banked at Petra Bank.”[1]
Per Kiriakou: “One night, Ahmed Chalabi [took] every single dollar — $36 million — transferred it to secret accounts in Switzerland, and escaped to Syria in the trunk of his girlfriend / secretary’s car. He was found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia, but by then he was living in London wearing $2,000 suits and driving Rolls-Royces.”[1][2]
The Jordanian death sentence was later set aside at the request of the CIA, which approached King Hussein in 1991 to pardon Chalabi so he could front the Iraqi National Congress.[3]