IRAQI ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE FOR JANUARY 7

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000044

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2020
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE FOR JANUARY 7

REF: A. 09 BAGHDAD 3360

B. 09 BAGHDAD 1355

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

PARLIAMENTARIAN THREATENS ACTION AGAINST OIL MINISTER
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1. (C) In a terse press statement December 28, the chairman
of the Council of Representatives' (COR) Integrity Committee,
Sheikh Sabah Al-Saidi (Fadhila),announced plans to seek the
prosecution of Oil Minister Hussein Al-Shahristani on
corruption charges. Al-Saidi stated that the COR had
"extensive documents" implicating Al-Shahristani in
corruption and would forward them to the judiciary. Sheikh
Sabah made no mention of specific allegations against the Oil
Minister; nor did he elaborate on the nature of the allegedly
incriminating documents. (COMMENT: It is doubtful that Sheikh
Sabah's threat to have Al-Shahristani prosecuted will amount
to much. The COR's questioning of Al-Shahristani in November
covered, inter alia, corruption allegations, and by all
accounts he effectively rebutted them. Sources have asserted
to us that, despite periodic allegations of Al-Shahristani's
involvement in corrupt practices, there is no concrete
supporting evidence. Sheikh Sabah's pronouncement is likely
motivated in large part by partisan considerations, as he and
his Shia-based Fadhila party, in their rivalry with other
Shia-based parties -- in particular, Prime Minister Nouri
Al-Maliki's Dawa party -- have long targetted Al-Shahristani
and other cabinet members. END COMMENT)

INTERIOR MINISTER ACKNOWLEDGES "GHOST" EMPLOYEES
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2. (C) Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bulani, in a December 27
press statement, announced the uncovering of over 70,000
"ghost" employees in the ranks of the Facilities Protection
Service (FPS),responsible for guarding GOI buildings.
According to Al-Bulani, these "ghost" employees were included
in the total recorded FPS workforce of 158,000. He said these
fictitious personnel were discovered when responsibility for
management of the FPS passed from individual ministries to
the Interior Ministry (MOI) alone; in assuming control of the
FPS, Al-Bulani elaborated, ad-hoc MOI committees vetted
personnel records and identified the bogus employees.
(COMMENT: By all accounts, the "ghost employee" phenomenon is
present throughout the GOI's civilian and military workforce,
with corrupt officials pocketing the salaries of subordinates
listed on the payroll but performing no actual duties.
Al-Bulani is generally given credit for removing some corrupt
police officers and other undesirables from the Ministry's
workforce. His revelation about the FPS "ghost" employees was
doubtlessly designed in part to promote his anti-corruption
credentials as he pursues political ambitions in the run-up
to the March parliamentary elections. END COMMENT)


CONVICTION OF SHIA ENDOWNMENT DIRECTOR
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3. (C) Ref A reported the December convictions of four senior
GOI officials, including three Trade Ministry officials
prosecuted in Samawa province. In another noteworthy
corruption case announced by the Commission of Integrity
(COI),the Samawa court recently convicted the provincial
director of the GOI's Shia endowment (waqf) institution for
embezzling official funds of 307 million dinars (approx.
$300,000). Reportedly, the accused received a five-year
Q$300,000). Reportedly, the accused received a five-year
prison sentence. In December 29 conversation with the High
Judicial Council's spokesperson, Judge Abdel Sattar Bayrkdar
(Ref A),ACCO cited the recent convictions as a welcome sign
of judicial activism against corruption by the Samawa court.
Judge Abdel Sattar responded that the activism was not
confined to Samawa's judiciary, asserting that courts
throughout Iraq were demonstrating a growing recognition of
the need to do their part in combatting corruption by
bringing corrupt officials to account.

CORRUPTION IN DIYALA PROVINCE
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4. (C) According to media reports, the Diyala Provincial
Council's Integrity Committee recently conducted a survey of
citizens on the extent of corruption in local government
institutions. The Committee's chairman, Amer Al-Karkhi,
announced the survey results; the proportion of respondents
reporting corruption ranged from 95% for a state enterprise,
the Oil Products Company, to 18% for Diyala's Education
Directorate. Among the other ten institutions covered, the
province's Social Welfare Directorate ranked second on the
corruption scale, with 52% of respondents reporting
corruption there, followed by the Communications Directorate
and the Displacement and Migration Directorate, with figures
of 46% and 45%, respectively. (COMMENT: As with the bribery
surveys conducted by the COI -- see Ref B -- the validity of
these polling statistics is unknown; no details were provided
on the survey's methodology, number of respondents, etc.
However, the figures reported in the Diyala survey are
substantially higher than those reported in the COI's
nationwide polling; the alarming figure of 95% reported for
the Oil Products Company suggests that virtually every person
dealing with it encounters corruption, e.g. request for
bribes. END COMMENT)

HILL