The 45-year-old Iraqi Kurdish construction tycoon, who left Iraq in 1976 and is close to the Kurdish prime minister, made most of his money in Iraq. He is believed to have made most of his fortune in the 1990s when a no fly zone was enforced on the northern part of Iraq.

In 2003 Mr Mulla founded the Iraqi Consultants and Construction Bureau (ICCB), which has offices in Baghdad, Amman and Geneva. The company has been involved in the rebuilding and rehabilitation process in Iraq after the fall of Saddams regime in 2003.

Mr Mulla is also understood to hold a significant stake in Orascom, the Egyptian telecommunications company that won the contract to operate a mobile phone network in Iraq.