"They don't fight us on the ground," says Naim al-Obeid of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of Iraq's most notorious Shia militias.
Sheik Abdul-Rahman and his cousins belong to the Obeid, one of Iraq's main tribal confederations.
A court attendance notice was served to Obeid on the advice from the NSW director of public prosecutions (DPP).
Icac has referred Obeid to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) for "misconduct in public office" relating to his alleged lobbying of Costa and Roozendaal to change government policy affecting the Circular Quay leases, and for lobbying of former minister Tripodi to change government policy regarding leaseholders.
Sheik Abdullah Sami al-Obeidi, one of the leaders of the Obeid tribe and a member of the Kirkuk provincial council, accused Kurdish parties of issuing fake food ration cards for almost 62,000 families.
The Liberal MP Gareth Ward, who had written to Hurley asking Obeid be stripped of his Order of Australia awarded more than 30 years ago, said the former minister no longer deserved the honour.
Obeid is accused of influencing the Maritime Authority of NSW to deal favourably with Circular Quay Restaurants Pty Ltd, a company of which his family was the effective owner, over the company's restaurant tenancies at Sydney's Circular Quay.
Because the government would never explain why it rejected an application, we were following a special strategy: Instead of listing several destinations, which could risk a total rejection if just one was ruled off-limits, we cited only one: El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan is the "epicenter" of the famine, we had been told, but its governor was especially cooperative.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption finding was made in June, when the watchdog also advised the office of the director of public prosecutions to consider pursuing criminal charges against Obeid for misconduct in public office.
But he dismissed an application to prohibit contact with all crown witnesses as some are members of Obeid's family.
