ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT CLAIMS FIRST KARBALA VICTIM

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001491 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KJUS IR IZ SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT CLAIMS FIRST KARBALA VICTIM Classified By: Karbala PRT Team Leader John Kincannon for reason 1.4 (d ). This is a PRT Karbala reporting cable. ¶1. (U) According to a national radio station, former Acting Provincial Council (PC) Chairman Abd al-Al al-Yasiri was arrested on corruption charges on June 1. Radio Nawa reported that Yasiri (ISCI) was charged with abuse of authority stemming from a complaint filed with the provincial Public Integrity Commission by one Adil Masikh. Masikh asserts that Yasiri, while in office, confiscated his automobile and refused to provide any compensation. Concurrently, former Karbala Governor Aqeel Mahmoud al-Khazali (Da'wa) has filed a defamation complaint against the former Acting PC Chairman. There is no word yet on what, exactly, prompted Aqeel's complaint. ¶2. (C) Comment: That the talk of action emanating from the Karbala PC's Anti-Corruption Committee (headed by Ali Mohammad al-Maliki, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's cousin) has turned out to be more than empty rhetoric is good news. Yasiri widely is regarded as corrupt and in the pocket of the Iranians. He has spent much of his time since leaving office attempting to insinuate himself into lucrative deals, including the Middle Euphrates International Airport project. We also have heard that he was involved in a deal to privatize a large, state-owned cement factory here in association with the prominent French cement company, Lafarge. ¶3. (C) Comment Continued: Yasiri, out of power, affiliated with an enfeebled Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and probably guilty of larger and more egregious instances of corruption, is an easy target. Establishing that local anti-corruption efforts are more than just another means of settling scores with the political enemies of the ruling Da'wa party will require tactics--and victims--that do not smack of partisanship. End Comment. FORD