MUTHANNA INTEGRITY COMMISSION: A TOOTHLESS TIGER

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000871

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EFIN IZ
SUBJECT: MUTHANNA INTEGRITY COMMISSION: A TOOTHLESS TIGER

Classified By: PRT Team Leader Brad Lynch for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. This is a Muthanna PRT reporting cable


2. (C) Summary: Muthanna PRT Team Leader met with the
province's Commission on Public Integrity (CPI)
representative to better understand that organization's
function, limitations and track record. This group has been
largely ineffective due to a lack of surveillance equipment,
an office location that offers little privacy, and an Iraqi
law that permits the minister in each ministry under
investigation to block without cause the forwarding of the
commission's results to the court system. End Summary.


3. (SBU) PRT Team Leader met on March 27 with Muthanna's
Integrity Commissioner, Haidar Abid Autaya Hassan, to discuss
the commission's goals, needs and concerns. Hassan leads a
group of eight investigators tasked with ferreting out
corruption, gathering evidence and sending cases to the court
for prosecution. His office, opened at the end of 2007,
reports directly to the Council of Representatives Integrity
Committee in Baghdad.

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O for 10, A Toothless Tiger
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4. (SBU) When queried about his success rate, Hassan
lamented that his group has prepared ten cases since the
summer of 2008; since then, however, six had been closed by
the respective ministers whose provincial-level employees
were under investigation, exercising their rights under the
Iraqi Law on Criminal Procedures, Article 136(b). The other
four cases have been thrown out by the Muthanna court due to
a lack of evidence. Those rulings are currently under
appeal. When the Team Leader commented that this must be
frustrating, Hassan replied, "One of our investigators cried
about a case."


5. (SBU) The commission has turned three minor election
fraud cases over to the Muthanna court, and according to
Hassan, these (unsuccessful) provincial council candidates
are NOW in jail for falsifying education documents. Of the
26 candidates elected, 24 have had their diplomas certified;
the remaining two are still under review. Hassan claims that
investigations such as these are a major factor in the
nation-wide election certification delays.

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"We Need Three Things"
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6. (SBU) Hassan listed three things limiting his success: a
lack of surveillance equipment; office space that affords
little privacy to potential whistle blowers; and Article 136b
of Iraqi law. While he admitted that evidence obtained using
wiretapping equipment would be inadmissible in courts, Hassan
said that it would significantly enhance his team's ability
to conduct investigations.


7. (SBU) Without surveillance equipment, the Commission on
Public Integrity provincial office must rely solely upon
informants, and there are several ways in which they can
contact an investigator, including face-to-face meetings.
Currently, however, the commission rents an office building
in central Samawah from the provincial governor, and Hassan
believes that this very public location deters many from
coming forward.

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Comment
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8. (C) Given its anemic record, we find that the Muthanna
Commission on Public Integrity office has not been effective
in bringing corrupt officials to justice in Muthanna. So
long as political considerations can squelch the prosecution
of integrity violations, this organization will not be a
truly independent force in the campaign to eliminate
corruption. End Comment.
BUTENIS