ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE FOR SEPTEMBER 18

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002520 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KCOR KDEM IZ SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE FOR SEPTEMBER 18 REF: A. BAGHDAD 2313 ¶B. BAGHDAD 1401 ¶C. BAGHDAD 1161 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) GOI anti-corruption officials finalized a new anti-corruption strategy at an UN-organized gathering and plan to unveil it in October; they expressed appreciation for USG as well as UN assistance in devising the strategy, focused on achieving compliance with the UN Convention Against Corruption. Iraq's lead anti-corruption agency, the Commission on Integrity (COI),has mounted an active public relations campaign, with COI head Judge Raheem Al-Ugaili announcing, inter alia, the COI's submission of 500 corruption cases to the judiciary so far this year and providing an update on GOI officials' submission of financial disclosure reports. The COI recently issued its first-ever "black list" of public employees who allegedly submitted fraudulent educational and other documents to obtain their jobs. END SUMMARY. FINALIZATION OF THE GOI'S ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Ref A contained an update on Iraqis' efforts, with UN assistance under an ACCO-financed project, to prepare a new national anti-corruption strategy to replace the 18-point plan issued by the GOI in January 2008. Subsequently, during September 7-10, UNDP/UNODC officials hosted meetings in Amman of Iraqi anti-corruption officials to put the final touches on the strategy. The event culminated in a gathering, chaired by the head of the GOI's Joint Anti-Corruption Council (JACC),Ali Alaq, who gave his endorsement to the finalized version, which is focused on Iraq's achieving compliance with the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Besides Alaq, who also serves as Secretary General of the Council of Ministers and is Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's point-person on anti-corruption efforts, the head of the Commission on Integrity (COI),Judge Raheem, played a prominent role in the proceedings. ¶3. (SBU) The event culminated in Alaq's announcement that the GOI would formally release the new strategy in October. He acknowledged, though, that some specifics of the strategy's implementation plan had yet to be fully elaborated and would be released later. In side conversations with ACCO reps in attendance, both Alaq and Raheem praised the UNDP/UNODC officials involved in the months-long process of formulating the strategy, asserting that their guidance and expertise had been crucial. (NOTE: UNDP/UNODC officials' assistance began in earnest in January, when they organized the first of an ongoing series of workshops and other events to orient Iraqi anti-corruption officials to the UNCAC requirements and assist them in identifying reforms required for Iraq's existing anti-corruption regime in order to fulfill those requirements. END NOTE) Alaq and Judge Raheem also made a point of expressing appreciation for the USG support that had made possible the UNDP/UNODC project. ¶4. (SBU) A detailed report on the strategy follows via septel. PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFENSIVE BY THE COI -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The COI has been active of late on the public relations front, with Raheem issuing an array of media statements on his organization's achievements and other issues. Among his utterances, he announced earlier this month that the COI had submitted 500 corruption cases to the judiciary so far in 2009, compared to 398 over all of last year. (COMMENT: Per Ref B, our sources had previously reported stepped-up activity by the COI this year, compared to 2008, in terms of the number of persons arrested and prosecuted on corruption charges. We also note, per ref C, Qprosecuted on corruption charges. We also note, per ref C, the judiciary's recent claim that it had received 445 corruption cases since the beginning of 2009 and that this represented an increase over 2008. However, in comparing figures for 2008-09, we note that many corruption-related and other criminal cases in 2008 were not prosecuted as the defendants benefitted from the February 2008 Amnesty Law. END COMMENT). ¶6. (SBU) Providing an update on the submission of financial disclosure reports required of senior officials at national and provincial levels, Raheem told the media that only 35 percent of parliamentarians (Council of Representatives) had filed reports, while all Ministers as well as the President and his two Vice Presidents had done so. He went on to cite BAGHDAD 00002520 002 OF 002 two provincial governors, those of Al-Anbar and Ninewa, for failure to submit the reports. (COMMENT: As previously reported -- Ref B -- the legal requirement for senior members of all branches of government to submit the annual financial disclosure statements has been widely ignored in the past. The parliamentarians' spotty record notwithstanding, our sense is that overall the number of officials submitting statements for 2008 has substantially increased over prior years. END COMMENT) ¶7. (SBU) The COI, in an effort to demonstrate vigilance over the honesty of public officials, issued this week its first ever "black list" of public employees who were hired based on educational and other documents that COI determined were forged. In releasing its "black list," the COI said that it had evidence that at least 100 individuals working at the Journalism Faculty at Baghdad University had gotten their jobs based on submission of false credentials. All names were listed on COI's website. The story received wide coverage in the local media. HILL