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Report: Corruption Investigations in Iraq Stopped in Their Tracks
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ShareApril 30, 2007 12:01 AM
Investigations into government corruption in Iraq are being stopped in their tracks due to an antiquated law that has been reinstated by the prime minister, according to a report to be released today by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
The report says that corruption in Iraq is a "major impediment to Iraq's development and growth." The special inspector general estimates that more than $5 billion a year of Iraqi government funds are diverted due to corruption and charges that some in the Iraqi government have been hindering ongoing investigations.
A large part of the problem, according to the report, is that Iraq's prime minister's office is using a law dating back to the 1970s to stop ongoing investigations in their tracks. The law says that no case can go forward without the approval of the minister of the affected agency. So far, the report says that various agency ministers have stopped the prosecution and investigation of 102 individuals involved in 48 cases.
The prime minister's office has also ordered that any case involving a minister or former minister must have the approval of the prime minister before it can be recommended to an investigative court.
One of the cases, which has been referred to the prime minister's office, involves eight ministers and 40 directors general who are accused of mismanaging $8 billion.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
A case against the minister of oil was also referred to the prime minister's office following the arrest of one of the oil minister's directors.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is not named directly in the report, admitted in an interview with al-Iraqiyah television last year that corruption in general is a problem, but he refused to name those responsible for it.
"We suffer in terms of security and administrative corruption," he said. "However, and in accordance with the government plan, we will use force and will be hard and pursue those who tamper with people's funds. I cannot reveal the names of those who were arrested, expelled or brought to account for their corruption."
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has appointed a director of the Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT) to advise Iraqis how to investigate corruption within their own government. According to the OAT, the biggest problems hampering the investigations are "lack of security for investigators and the limited ability of ministers to stop specific corruption investigations in their ministries."
The Ministry of Oil, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense are the subjects of the most corruption claims, said the inspector general's report.
Meanwhile, Iraq has committed to establishing a Joint Anti-Corruption Council that will include representatives from the prime minister's office, the courts and representatives from both the U.S. and U.K. embassies. The report said a committee was scheduled to meet back in February to sign the charter establishing the council but that the meeting was postponed by the Iraqi government.
Read the inspector general's report.
Vote: Should the U.S. intervene in corruption in Iraq?
April 30, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (31)
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The investigation stopped because of who would be implicated, this is clear. Since this is a US puppet government, one can be safely assume all the names of the corrupt players are not Iraqi...
Posted by: brian | May 2, 2007 1:07:10 AM
It is NOT a US puppet government. That is what makes the situation even more insane. The US is once again directly supporting it's enemy.
Posted by: Dan | May 2, 2007 3:32:51 AM
Of course we should intervene! Isn't that $8 billion American taxpayer's money?
@#$%... are you kidding?
Posted by: victoria2 | May 2, 2007 9:37:53 PM
Don't be too harsh on the Iraqi government, they are only following the lead of the American government that oversees them. Corruption, Lies, and cover-ups are a standard over here --that's how we ended up in Iraq in the first place. The only difference is they don't have democrats to use as scapegoats.
Posted by: Warren Cancilla | May 4, 2007 5:12:56 PM
Not only is this war unnecessary, apparently so is the Iraqi government. We deposed a dictator and replaced him with the mob.
Posted by: Germanized | May 4, 2007 6:31:20 PM
And now the Iraqi parliament wants to take a vacation!
We have people dying over there almost every day and these guys figure they can take a couple of those deadly days to just chill out and relax.
They have work to do and if they would just do it already, our people could come home and not be targets in their civil war.
The Iraqi parlament is already in the green zone for chrissake!
Compared to our troops in the most volatile cities in Iraq on extended tours. What kind of vacation do these Iraqi fat cats think they could possibly need?
What makes them think they can get some R&R while our boys and girls are dying in order that they can get on their feet politically?
Just get them out of there already!
Posted by: Zach | May 4, 2007 9:50:19 PM
Its stories like this that make me realize why George Bush and many in the Republican Party have given up on Christian virtue and have instead agreed to join John McCain and Osama bin Laden at the gates of Hell.
Posted by: turkeyfish | May 5, 2007 11:01:07 PM
The first step to ending this corruption is to take the American tax payer's money out of the equation. Thanks George, another fine mess you've gotten us into......
Posted by: tomas | May 6, 2007 3:45:34 PM
In case anyone wonders how it happens, here it is; the US decides to build, say, a pipeline, Bechtel and Halliburton get the contract, no bid, then they mark up the costs a few thousand percent, which they shave off the top, kicking back Bushco a small "tip" of a few million as a "finder's fee". They then subcontract the work to local firms also at a markup, most of which is kicked back, your tax dollars have now been legally "laundered" becoming the private money now "belonging" to Bechtel/Halliburton. The Iraqis themselves are just bit players doing what their "American" masters tell them to, this is why Cheney wants to stay there...
Posted by: brian | May 7, 2007 2:27:06 AM
This government is broken. Every important part of our government was created in order to administer to the general welfare to the people:
Security for the people, Healthcare for the people,Full education for the people, Eliminating the ten thousand lobbiests which corrupts our founding fathers message as stated in our Declaration of Independence: "....that to secure these rights"(life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness)"governments are insituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the pwople to alter or to abolish it and to institute a new government...........
H kraft, California
Posted by: harry kraft | Jul 3, 2007 10:12:36 PM
thanks.
Posted by: hikaye | Aug 29, 2007 8:19:15 PM
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