Iraq’s former integrity commissioner wanted on corruption charges: court

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An anti-graft court in Baghdad on Monday issued an arrest warrant for a lawmaker on corruption charges, himself formerly the chief of the country’s anti-corruption board.

The warrant came from the branch of Baghdad’s Karkh Investigation Court dealing with corruption cases. It includes a travel ban and the seizure of Member of Parliament Talal al-Zubaie’s assets and properties, a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) said.

Zubaie was previously the chairman of the Integrity Commission, a subordinate body to the national legislature. He is now a sitting Member of Parliament with the Sunni al-Qarar (Decision) coalition, which is under the parliamentary Islah bloc, an alliance led by firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon Coalition.

“The arrest warrant was issued based on the provisions of Article 308 of the Penal Code,” the SJC continued. In late August, Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi directed a letter to the SJC that informed the council of a decision to lift Zubaie’s immunity.

Halbousi had claimed that parliament had received several “corruption” complaints against Zubaie while he was heading the Integrity Commission in the previous term. Lifting a Member of Parliament’s immunity does not mean suspension, but marks an important step in the prosecution of any lawmaker.

This is the first time an arrest warrant has been issued for an Iraqi MP since the last legislative elections held on May 12, 2018.

Successive Iraqi federal governments have not been able to put an end to corruption. The current government, who ran on a reformist platform, continues to struggle to address the widespread mismanagement of public funds while facing strong resistance from within its own institutions.

Iraq has one of the world’s largest oil reserves and is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). However, its citizens suffer from extreme poverty and high unemployment rates, which has led to ongoing protests across the country.

The embattled Middle Eastern nation continues to rank high on Transparency International’s list for corruption, fraud, and mismanagement of state institutions, some of the most significant challenges facing the country since the fall of the former regime in 2003.

According to the organization’s 2018 Corruption Index, Iraq ranks 168th, the 12th most corrupt country out of a total of 180.

Editing by Nadia Riva