Corruption has cost Iraq $150bn since 2003, president says
Iraq has lost $150 billion to embezzlement since 2003, President Barham Salih said yesterday.
He called for the formation of an international anti-corruption coalition to help track and return the funds. Mr Salih said the money “has been smuggled out of the country, especially from the oil sector, due to corrupt deals”.
Widespread corruption has hampered Iraq’s efforts to recover from decades of wars and sanctions.
The anti-corruption civil society organisation Transparency International ranks it 20th from the bottom globally in its Corruption Perceptions Index.
“Corruption is not less dangerous than terrorism – it is the political economy of violence,” Mr Salih said.
“State institutions must take a serious, decisive and resolute stand to confront this.
“It is corruption that pushed thousands of protesters to leave their homes and to demand a homeland that is free of corruption.”
A draft law is being submitted to ensure that practical, proactive and deterrent measures will be taken to recover the stolen money, according to the president.
In late 2019, thousands of mostly young Iraqis took to the streets to vent their anger at the government’s inability to provide basic public services and jobs. They called for the removal of a ruling elite they see as corrupt and for an end to foreign interference in the country’s affairs.
Mr Salih said the creation of an international anti-corruption coalition would enable Iraq to recover stolen funds more easily.
An Iraqi parliamentary candidate was shot dead in Baghdad on Saturday, the third assassination this month.
Hashim Al Mashhadani was killed by gunmen in a village near Taramiyah district, north of Baghdad, where ISIS fighters are known to operate.
“Such ongoing killings are considered terrorist acts as they target the country’s national security, as well as impact the credibility of the coming elections,” said Ali Al Bayati, a member of the semi-official Iraqi Human Rights Commission.
The state must end impunity of the killers by taking real steps to refer them to security officials whose job it is to end the violence, he said.
Mr Al Bayati said government condolences were not the answer.
The government’s “responsibility is to fix the rule of law, otherwise the external view of Iraq will be that it is under the control of non-state groups”, he said.
“This is a clear sign of failure, for which the international community is responsible as well,” he told The National.
Al Mashhadani was set to stand in the coming parliamentary elections as a member of the Azim Alliance, led by politician Khamis Khanjar.
On Twitter, Mr Khanjar said the murder sent “a dangerous message before the elections”.
The killing of Al Mashhadani happened several weeks after the murder of another prominent campaigner, Ihab Al Wazni, in the southern city of Karbala.
Al Wazni’s assassination led to outrage at the government’s lack of action in providing civilian protection, basic public services and jobs.
Al Wazni was a vocal opponent of corruption, the stranglehold of Tehran-linked armed groups and Iran’s influence in Iraq.
Onoy 24 hours after Al Wazni was killed, journalist Ahmed Hassan was shot twice in the head and once in the shoulder. He survived and was treated in intensive care, doctors said.
Witnesses said Hassan “was targeted as he got out of his car to go home”, in the city of Diwaniya in the south of the country.
Iraq’s protest movement drew many followers when it began in October 2019.
It has focused its efforts on the post-2003 US invasion political system and an elite that Iraqis accuse of pillaging the country’s wealth.