ANTI-CORRUPTION CONSULTATIONS IN KIRKUK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001551

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2019
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION CONSULTATIONS IN KIRKUK

REF: BAGHDAD 101

Classified By: ACCO Joseph Stafford, reason 1.4 (b and d)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) During May 31-June 2 visit to Kirkuk, Anti-Corruption
Coordinator and staff (ACCO) and Provincial Reconstruction
Team (PRT) Kirkuk officers met with head of local Commission
on Integrity (COI) office, which he portrayed as increasingly
active despite what he claimed was the Provincial Council
Chairman's lack of cooperation. The Governor highlighted the
need for local media to increase coverage of corruption,
while the Municipalities and Public Works Ministry Inspector
General's representative spoke of senior officials being
fired for corrupt practices. A prominent businessman
recounted his ordeal after refusing to pay a bribe to
Kirkuk's Mayor. The head of the Provincial Council's Legal
Committee cited the influence of political parties as a
constraint on bringing corrupt officials and politicians to
account. According to Kirkuk's chief judge, so far this year
the local courts have received around 140 corruption cases
and rendered guilty verdicts in 39. According to Kirkuk's
top police official, the local Interior Ministry court has so
far received about 50 cases in 2009, with around 25 percent
entailing corruption. Given Kirkuk's strained and complex
political environment, centering on Arab-Kurd tensions over
the province's future status, it is noteworthy that the
anti-corruption dossier looms as large as it does, judging
from our discussions. ACCO extends deepest thanks to PRT
Kirkuk for the excellent support of the visit. END SUMMARY.






COMMISSION ON INTEGRITY
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2. (C) ACCO, joined by PRT Kirkuk officers, began their
program by meeting with the director of the Commission on
Integrity's (COI) Kirkuk office, Shwan Saleh Mohamed.
Appointed to his position in early 2008, Shwan said that he
had initially been hampered in his corruption investigations
by lack of cooperation by other local government
institutions. He asserted that distrust of the COI had been
so deep-seated that he and his staff had sometimes been
thwarted in their investigative efforts through denial of
access to other government offices in Kirkuk. Now, according
to Shwan, the COI had gained enough acceptance to be able to
carry out its investigations, although he asserted that one
key official -- Provincial Council Chairman Rizgar Ali
Hamajan, a Kurd affiliated with the PUK party -- maintained
his adamant refusal to deal with the COI on the specious
grounds that he was not required to do so. Shwan went on to
accuse Kirkuk's police force of delays in executing arrest
warrants obtained by the COI from the judiciary in corruption
cases.


3. (C) Asked about the COI's achievements, Shwan cited 200
corruption cases in past months, adding that so far "20 to
25" had resulted in convictions. (COMMENT: He indicated that
many of the 200 cases were still being adjudicated, hence the
relatively few convictions to date. END COMMENT) He
confidently predicted that 2009 would witness a substantial
increase in numbers of investigations completed and cases
submitted to the judiciary for prosecution compared to 2008
figures. Shwan went on to list an array of training and
equipment needs, while also lamenting the lack of security
personnel to protect COI facilities and staff. He also
lamented what he claimed was the lack of attention from the
COI headquarters, saying his requests for assistance were
often ignored in Baghdad. ACCO undertook to raise Shwan's
concerns with COI head Judge Raheem Al-Ugaili.

GOVERNOR OF KIRKUK
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Q --------------


4. (C) In his meeting with us, Governor Abdel Rahman Fatah, a
Kurd without strong party links, acknowledged that corruption
was widespread in Kirkuk's government apparatus. He pledged
his cooperation with the COI and other corruption bodies --
in particular, the local offices of the Board of Supreme
Audit and of ministries' Inspectors General -- in an effort
to crack down on abuses. The Governor highlighted the need
for local media outlets to give greater coverage to
corruption and thereby impress upon the public the severity
of the problem and encourage their support for
anti-corruption initiatives. Among officials joining the
discussion was the Kirkuk representative of the Muncipalities
and Public Works Ministry's Inspector General, who spoke of

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progress in ferreting out corrupt functionaries in the
Ministry's local operations. He said that in recent months
several senior Ministry officials in the province had been
dismissed for alleged involvement in corrupt activities. The
Inspector General's representative professed ignorance as to
whether those dismissed would end up being prosecuted, but
noted that dismissal itself involved a key sanction -- denial
of pension and other benefits.

PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN
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5. (C) We met with a leading local businessman, Jalal Bazyan,
to obtain his perspective on the corruption issue. He
portrayed corruption as rampant in the province as well as in
the neighboring Kurdistan region, where he also has business
interests. Bazyan recounted his personal ordeal over
corruption at the hands of Kirkuk's Mayor, Ehsan Goly,
claiming that the latter arranged for police to destroy three
of Bayzan's gasoline stations in retaliation for his refusal
to pay the bribe demanded by the Mayor. Bazyan asserted that
bringing to account the Mayor and other corrupt local
politicians was difficult, as they enjoyed the "protection"
of major political parties. As a case in point, he continued,
the Mayor,a Kurd, was affiliated with the KDP, whose
influence made the former's prosecution unlikely; Bazyan
added that he himself would not file a complaint with
authorities against the Mayor for fear of further retaliation
by the KDP. At the same time, he went on to insist that he
would continue to resist pressures to pay bribes and
persevere in his business interests. He expressed optimism
that over time public pressure and more accountable political
institutions would bring an end to at least the most
egregious forms of corruption in Kirkuk and in Iraq
generally.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENTARY COUNCIL
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6. (C) In our meeting with the chairperson of the Provincial
Council's Legal Committee, Hola Ahmed, a Sunni independent,
she echoed Bazyan's view that the influence of political
parties was a major constraint on bringing corrupt officials
and politicians to account. Consistent with COI head Shwan's
comments, she portrayed Provincial Council Chairman Rizgar
Ali Hamajan as unresponsive to the local COI office; she also
accused him of preventing the Council from adopting a more
active role against corruption. Ms. Ahmed spoke of the
personal risk to herself of speaking out against corruption,
mentioning a recent attempt on her life; she added that her
father, a prosecutor who handled corruption cases, had been
assassinated several years ago. She claimed to be heartened
by the growing assertiveness of the Council of
Representatives (COR) on the anti-corruption dossier, noting
the COR's subjecting the then-Trade Minister last month to
tough questioning over corruption allegations. Ms. Ahmed
expressed hope that when Kirkuk's deferred Provincial Council
elections are finally held, a new Council -- and Council
Chairman -- will be more effective in promoting the
anti-corruption cause.


JUDICIARY AND POLICE
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7. (C) Our program included a call on Kirkuk's senior
judicial figure, Appellate Court Chief Justice Nu'man
Al-Bayati, joined by Investigative Judge Qasim Al-Azzawi.
They claimed that during 2006-08, the local courts had
handled 510 corruption cases, of which 365 had been thrown
out under the Amnesty Law of February 2008. (COMMENT: See
reftel for background on the Amnesty Law. END COMMENT) The
judges stated that, to date in 2009, the courts had received
around 140 corruption cases and rendered guilty verdicts in
Qaround 140 corruption cases and rendered guilty verdicts in

39. (COMMENT: As reported above, COI head Shwan spoke of 200
cases, but did not make clear whether they had all been sent
to the judiciary or whether any dated back to 2008.
Similarly, it is not clear what period of time is covered by
the "20 to 25" convictions cited by the COI head. END
COMMENT) Similar to local COI head Shwan, they complained
that local judges lacked adequate security personnel to
ensure their safety.



8. (C) The final meeting was with Kirkuk's top policeman,
Police Director MAJ GEN Jamal Taher. He brushed aside COI
head Shwan's claim of delays by police in executing arrest
warrants in corruption cases, asserting that his police force
cooperated "fully" with the COI and its anti-corruption
mission. Asked about corruption in the police force itself,
MAJ GEN Taher acknowledged abuses and presented us a chart
showing criminal cases involving police officers brought
before Kirkuk's Interior Ministry court the previous month.

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Of the 50 or so cases, around 25 percent entailed corruption,
e.g., bribery, fraud. He requested that USG training
programs for Kirkuk's police include an anti-corruption
component.

COMMENT
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9. (C) Given Kirkuk's strained and complex political
environment, centering on Arab-Kurd tensions over the
governate's future status, it is noteworthy that the
anti-corruption dossier looms as large as it does, judging
from our discussions. Our sense is that, in Kirkuk, as
elsewhere in Iraq, the establishment of an effective
anti-corruption regime remains in the early stages. There
are bright spots; one is the progress of the local COI office
in winning the cooperation of other governorate authorities
-- with the glaring exception of the Provincial Council
Chairman. Another is entrepreneur Bazyan's refusal to yield
to pressure for bribes while continuing to pursue his
business interests. But Provincial Council member Ahmed's
recounting of the attempt on her life and assassination of
her father serves as a reminder of the risks that come with
anti-corruption activism in Iraq -- and of the need, as
articulated by COI head Shwan and Judges Al-Bayati and
Al-Azzawi, for adequate protection by the GOI. END COMMENT
FORD