Iraq: 3,200 Cases of Corruption in 2014

Adil Nouri, who sits on the Integrity Committee of the Iraqi Parliament, has revealed that former Iraqi prime minister al-Maliki spent millions on a military hospital that was never built.

The committee found 3,200 instances of corruption in 2014. The Iraqi financial watchdog is investigating, and Nouri has identified a few key cases, where millions of dollars have been stolen.

“Now, we are busy with the legal implications. The committee responsible for buying weapons has hidden millions of dollars. It seems like they have bought weapons used in World War II,” he said.

He continued, “This is in addition to millions of dollars of bribes within the Iraqi Defense Ministry during former PM Nouri al-Maliki’s cabinet. There is a contract claiming that jet fighters have been bought from Russia, whereas they are in fact Saddam-era planes.”

Six ministers and 53 former Iraqi government officials in exile are taking ‘special’ salaries, Nouri said. “We have asked Iraqi President Fuad Masum to ask the countries to where they have fled to hand the allegedly corrupt officials back to Iraq, so that they can be investigated and exposed.”

Moreover, he emphasized further corruption case during Maliki’s government, “One of the worst frauds of Maliki’s government was spending millions of dollars buying Russian military jets. Later it was revealed that the jets are Iraqi ones that were confiscated in 2003 on the Iran border when the US attacked Iraq.”

“So far in the investigation of this case, 24 high ranking military officers have been arrested,” added Nouri.

Another case under scrutiny is that of missing de-mining equipment. Again, millions of dollars have been spent on machines that never arrived in the country, according to the committee.

Finally, Nouri claims 16 private banks issued fraudulent cheques that were cashed by the Iraqi central bank, before the funds were deposited back in the private banks.

“A number of government employees from these 16 private banks have been arrested. The investigation shows that millions of dollars have been withdrawn from the private banks and sent to neighboring countries’ banks,” concluded Nouri.