Iraq Faces the Mother of all Corruption Scandals

[Joanne98]

Allegations of kickbacks rock key government department as 1,000 officials face arrest and Trade Minister is forced to resign

by Patrick Cockburn

BAGHDAD - Iraq plans to arrest 1,000 officials for corruption after a scandal which has forced the resignation of the Trade Minister and is threatening the food supply of millions of Iraqis.

People clamour for food in Baghdad - around 25 per cent of Iraqis live below the poverty line (Photo: the Independent)Corruption at the Trade Ministry is an important issue in Iraq because the ministry is in charge of the food rationing system on which 60 per cent of Iraqis depend. Officials at the ministry, which spends billions of dollars buying rice, sugar, flour and other items, are notorious among Iraqis for importing food that is unfit for human consumption, for which they charge the state the full international price.

The scandal first erupted in April when police, entering the Trade Ministry in Baghdad to arrest 10 senior officials accused of corruption and embezzlement, were greeted with gunfire by the ministry's own guards. The shoot-out allowed several officials, including two brothers of the Trade Minister, Abdul Falah al-Sudany, time to escape out the back gate.

The political crisis over corruption has escalated after a video surfaced showing Trade Ministry officials at a party, apparently drinking alcohol, cavorting with prostitutes, and deriding the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The voice of the man shooting the video, widely viewed and sent from phone to phone in Baghdad, is heard shouting to the dancing girls: "You before Maliki". Guests at the party who were captured on the video are said to include one of Mr Sudany's brothers and the ministry's spokesman.

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/29-0

[Arctic Dave]

1. Reminds me of the book "Haj".

Although it could have happened anywhere, Iraq seems like the perfect breeding ground for wholesale corruption. From start to finish the entire Iraq invasion was, and is, a scam.