THE RESIGNATION of a minister and the levelling of charges of embezzlement, mismanagement and criminality by parliament at several ministries have forced Iraq’s prime minister to pledge to crack down on corruption.
Deputies have been spurred to act by a scandal that precipitated the resignation of trade minister Abdul Falah al-Sudany, a member of Nuri al-Maliki’s own faction.
Investigations are targeting ministry officials responsible for purchasing billions of dollars of rice, flour, edible oil, tea and sugar for rations on which 60 per cent of Iraqis depend. The officials are accused of graft and buying food unfit for human consumption.
Ration packages, distributed through neighbourhood shops, have, in recent months, also lacked items or been unavailable.
Although Iraq is an oil exporter, one-quarter of its 27 million people subsist below the poverty line. This scandal erupted in April when police were fired on by ministry guards seeking to prevent the arrest of 10 officials.
Mr Sudany’s two brothers and nephew, accused of taking commissions on sugar purchases, escaped. One brother, Sabah Muhammad Sudany, who served as an aide to the minister, was apprehended in flight with cash, gold and travel documents.
The scandal was transformed into a crisis for Mr Maliki after a mobile phone video surfaced. It showed a party where drunken ministry officials, including Mr Sudany’s brothers, dallied with prostitutes and made fun of the prime minister.
Sabah al-Saadi, chairman of the Commission for Public Integrity, said the gathering “represents the impact of nepotism on the government and wasting of funds by senior officials’ family members”.
The commission issued 387 arrest warrants last month, including for 51 department heads, and has prepared another 997 detention orders.
Mr Maliki told the police to arrest all on the list. He intends to create a committee drawn from his own staff, the cabinet secretariat and anti-corruption agencies to take over the task of purchasing foodstuffs. Oil minister Hussein Shahristani, an ally of the prime minister, is to be summoned before parliament to explain why his ministry has performed poorly in the past three years.
Corruption is endemic in Iraq. Iraqis bribe traffic policemen, clerks, passport officials and petrol station attendants. Applicants pay to gain posts in the armed forces, police and civil service; businessmen to secure contracts.
Iraq is rated the third most-corrupt country of 180 listed by Transparency International.
