Iraqi anti-corruption official says $8 billion vanished
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Bassem Mroue and Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Associated Press
Baghdad - Iraq's top corruption fighter said Wednesday that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees.
In the chaos and lawlessness of Iraq, such threats are not taken lightly. Radi al-Radhi, who runs the Public Integrity Commission, leads one of the more dangerous missions in the country. He said in an interview with the Associated Press that 20 members of the organization have been murdered since it began its work.
In perhaps the most publicized recent case, an estimated $2 billion disappeared from funds to rebuild the electricity infrastructure.
Former Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samaraie, who holds both U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, was convicted in that case and sentenced to two years in prison. He escaped from an Iraqi-run jail in the Green Zone on Dec. 17 and turned up in Chicago on Jan. 15. Al-Samaraie has said the Americans helped him escape.
Al-Radhi said the commission has investigated about 2,600 corruption cases since it was established in March 2004, a few months before the United States returned sovereignty to Iraq. He estimated $8 billion has vanished or been misappropriated.
Corruption in the country, while traditionally rampant, is encouraged by constitutional clause 136 B, al-Radhi said. It gives Cabinet ministers the power to block his investigations.
So far, he said, ministers have blocked probes into the theft or misspending of an estimated additional $55 million in public money. Two years ago he asked the Constitutional Court to strike the clause, but the panel has never issued a ruling.
On Wednesday, he took the matter to Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who promised to back his efforts before the court, al-Radhi said. Al-Mashhadani's office confirmed that they met and said the parliament speaker promised to support the anti-corruption move.
Senior government officials and Cabinet ministers are accused of a variety of schemes.
In February, for example, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili, a supporter of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He reportedly orchestrated kickback schemes related to inflated contracts for equipment and services, with millions of dollars believed to be funneled to al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
Al-Radhi said that after starting an investigation of 180 Oil Ministry employees in the southern province of Basra, he and another colleague received death threats. Commission records show arrest warrants have been issued for about 90 former Iraqi officials, including 15 ministers, on charges of corruption. Most have fled the country.
The Iraq war has proven a temptation for many in the United States as well.
A quarterly audit released Jan. 31 by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, found the $300 billion U.S. war and reconstruction effort continues to be plagued with waste and corruption.
Early in the U.S. occupation of Iraq, hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on unnecessary and overpriced equipment for the Iraqi army.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1175770510301890.xml&coll=2
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Bassem Mroue and Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Associated Press
Baghdad - Iraq's top corruption fighter said Wednesday that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees.
In the chaos and lawlessness of Iraq, such threats are not taken lightly. Radi al-Radhi, who runs the Public Integrity Commission, leads one of the more dangerous missions in the country. He said in an interview with the Associated Press that 20 members of the organization have been murdered since it began its work.
In perhaps the most publicized recent case, an estimated $2 billion disappeared from funds to rebuild the electricity infrastructure.
Former Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samaraie, who holds both U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, was convicted in that case and sentenced to two years in prison. He escaped from an Iraqi-run jail in the Green Zone on Dec. 17 and turned up in Chicago on Jan. 15. Al-Samaraie has said the Americans helped him escape.
Al-Radhi said the commission has investigated about 2,600 corruption cases since it was established in March 2004, a few months before the United States returned sovereignty to Iraq. He estimated $8 billion has vanished or been misappropriated.
Corruption in the country, while traditionally rampant, is encouraged by constitutional clause 136 B, al-Radhi said. It gives Cabinet ministers the power to block his investigations.
So far, he said, ministers have blocked probes into the theft or misspending of an estimated additional $55 million in public money. Two years ago he asked the Constitutional Court to strike the clause, but the panel has never issued a ruling.
On Wednesday, he took the matter to Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who promised to back his efforts before the court, al-Radhi said. Al-Mashhadani's office confirmed that they met and said the parliament speaker promised to support the anti-corruption move.
Senior government officials and Cabinet ministers are accused of a variety of schemes.
In February, for example, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili, a supporter of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He reportedly orchestrated kickback schemes related to inflated contracts for equipment and services, with millions of dollars believed to be funneled to al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
Al-Radhi said that after starting an investigation of 180 Oil Ministry employees in the southern province of Basra, he and another colleague received death threats. Commission records show arrest warrants have been issued for about 90 former Iraqi officials, including 15 ministers, on charges of corruption. Most have fled the country.
The Iraq war has proven a temptation for many in the United States as well.
A quarterly audit released Jan. 31 by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, found the $300 billion U.S. war and reconstruction effort continues to be plagued with waste and corruption.
Early in the U.S. occupation of Iraq, hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on unnecessary and overpriced equipment for the Iraqi army.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1175770510301890.xml&coll=2
