Iraqi Parliament Urges Government to Investigate Seven Major Corruption Cases
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Iraqi Parliament's Media Office said corruption has undermined Iraq's state institutions for years, describing it as the greatest challenge facing the country's political system.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Parliament has called on the federal government to launch a comprehensive and coordinated investigation into seven major corruption cases, including the notorious "Heist of the Century," controversial multi-trillion-dollar electricity contracts, and alleged fictitious armament deals, following the lifting of parliamentary immunity for several lawmakers.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Iraqi Parliament's Media Office said corruption has undermined Iraq's state institutions for years, describing it as the greatest challenge facing the country's political system.
The statement said successive governments and parliamentary terms have repeatedly pledged to combat corruption, but those promises have produced few tangible results. In some cases, it is alleged, anti-corruption campaigns themselves were used to conceal the embezzlement of public funds.
According to parliament, a new phase in the fight against corruption began on Sunday, when the Iraqi parliament approved judicial requests to lift parliamentary immunity from several members of parliament.
To protect state institutions and prevent further waste of public money, parliament has urged the government to investigate seven major corruption files within a specified timeframe:
- Tax corruption: Including the theft of tax deposit funds, commonly known as the "Heist of the Century," considered Iraq's largest corruption and embezzlement scandal.
- Energy sector corruption: Including the spending of vast public funds on multi-trillion-dollar electricity contracts and alleged irregularities in awarding investment contracts for power plants, despite the continued failure of electricity generation, transmission, and maintenance projects.
- Investment sector: Alleged corruption and irregularities in granting residential, industrial, commercial, and educational investment licenses that have resulted in significant losses to public funds.
- Housing and reconstruction: Alleged corruption in public project contracts and the inflation of contract costs.
- Health sector: Corruption cases involving public and private hospitals, as well as pharmaceutical import contracts.
- Transport sector: Alleged corruption in port management and operating contracts, in addition to recent allegations involving the railway sector.
- Fictitious armament contracts: The purchase of ineffective or unusable equipment, materials, and machinery by the Ministries of Defense and Interior.
Parliament said its specialized committees would provide all available information related to these cases to the relevant anti-corruption authorities to support the investigations.
The statement also announced the formation of a special parliamentary committee to monitor the investigations and ensure accountability. It said the committee's mandate includes safeguarding public funds, recovering stolen assets to the state treasury in accordance with the constitution and applicable laws, and helping prevent future corruption.