The Ministry of Education has today launched new curricula for both primary and secondary schools in Iraq. The aim is to raise awareness and understanding of the concepts of integrity, transparency, human rights and honesty.

The new curricula were designed by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP). This innovative new initiative is the first of its kind to be introduced in Iraq.

“With these curricula, important values will be instilled into Iraq’s next generation,” said Jacqueline Badcock, UNDP’s Resident Representative. “Corruption is a problem that continues to plague the country,” she added.

Iraq was ranked the 8th most corrupt country in the world in 2012 according to Transparency International, and corruption continues to halt Iraq’s development prospects despite an abundance of resources.

The curricula increase students’ understanding of ethical issues through practical, real-life examples and guided discussions. The topics will be integrated into the children’s core subjects by their teachers. The initiative will incorporate lessons on building respect and respect for others, and is based on international best practices in line with the UN Convention Against Corruption, to which Iraq is a signatory.

The curricula are designed to nurture a generation which values integrity, transparency and honesty. The Anti-Corruption curricula will be introduced into Ministry of Education schools during the 2013-2014 academic year.

(Source: UNAMI)

The Iraqi Prime Minister reportedly insisted on Monday that some of the fake bomb detectors Iraq bought are actually functional, despite overwhelming evidence that none of them work.

According to AFP, Nouri al-Maliki told reporters:

“The best device in the world does not detect (explosives) more than 60 percent (of the time)… and results we obtained indicate that these devices detect from 20 to 50 percent … Some of the devices were real and were detecting [explosives].“

He added that security forces are moving more to the use of police dogs because they are better able to detect explosives.

The devices were sold by ATSC, run by James McCormick, who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Britain for fraud. They contain nothing that could be used in the detection of explosives.

(Source: AFP)

The conman who made $84 million selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other countries has been jailed for ten years by a court in the UK.

Passing sentence on Jim McCormick, Judge Richard Hone said:

“The device was useless, the profits outrageous and your culpability as a fraudster has to be placed in the highest category …

“… your fraudulent conduct … in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent individuals …

“In terms of culpability and harm, I have been unable to imagine a more serious case of its kind.“

The judge described the profits as ‘obscene’, funding grand houses, a greedy and extravagant lifestyle, and even a yacht.

McCormick sold the ‘ADE 651′  devices through his company, Advanced Tactical Security & Communications Ltd (ATSC).

The devices are reported to be still in use throughout Iraq.

By Padraig O’Hannelly.

Before the local elections, an art student climbed the tallest building in central Baghdad and hung a banner depicting a giant eye, with the caption “We can see you“, overlooking the Green Zone.

It’s an image that should be in the minds of all who consider bribery to be a perk of the job, or even an entitlement.

This week in the UK, businessman Jim McCormick was found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to security forces, many of them in Iraq; he made an estimated $84 million from the scam, and was facilitated by corrupt officials who were happy to take his life-changing backhanders. Many others, however, had their lives changed in very different ways, when they fell victim to the bombs that went undetected by McCormick’s phoney devices.

At a different level, there are many who believe it’s OK to accept ‘gifts’ for simply doing their jobs, and they will always have an excuse for it: “everyone else is doing it“, “I need the money“, “other people are taking more“, …

But it’s all part of the same amoral culture that must be eradicated from any civilised society. Finding the culprits is one thing, but making the crime of corruption socially unacceptable is another. The people can see you, and ultimately will have zero tolerance for what you do.

A British businessman has been found guilty of an $84-million fraud involving the sale of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other countries.

A jury found Jim McCormick guilty on three counts of fraud over the scam, which involved passing off novelty golfball finders, containing no functioning electronics, as bomb detectors.

They “ADE651″ detectors were installed at checkpoints in Baghdad through which car bombs and suicide bombers passed, killing hundreds of civilians. According to The Guardian, they were in use at least up to last month at checkpoints across the Iraqi capital.

Experts said the detectors lacked any grounding in science, and did not work in accordance with the known laws of physics. McCormick, aged 57, sold 6,000 of the useless devices for as much as £27,000 each.

McCormick, director of British-based security company ATSC, claimed his devices could detect minuscule traces of explosives, class A drugs, ivory and human beings at a distance of up to 1km at ground level and from a plane flying 5km high, reported The Telegraph.

A former colleague of McCormick told the BBC he saw him set up accounts in false names for 15 Iraqi officials. General Jihad al-Jabiri, who ran the Baghdad bomb squad, is in jail on corruption charges relating to the contracts.

McCormick will be sentenced next month, and faces up to eight years in jail.

(Sources: The Guardian, The Telegraph, BBC)

By John Lee.

Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) chairman, Riad Al Sadik (pictured), has said Leighton’s name “became very, very bad in Iraq” in 2012 following the bribery scandal.

“HLG was definitely affected,” he told The Australian. “It took us quite some time to clean this up.”

The company sacked a senior manager last year as part of its probe into allegations of bribery related to its $1.3 billion of oil contracts in Iraq.

(Source: Business Spectator, The Australian)

By John Lee.

A team from Iraq’s Commission on Integrity (CoI) has arrested an official of the Sunni Endowment for taking bribes to from investors in return for the use of a property owned by the Endowment.

The official is accused of taking a bribe of $250,000 in return for the use of the Sara Khatun Palace in Baghdad’s Karrada [Karradah] district.

The Commission says its agents recorded the official on video.

(Source: Commission on Integrity)

By John Lee.

An American contractor has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking at least $3.7 million in bribes and kickbacks while working for the US army in Iraq.

John Alfy Salama Markus, 40, pleaded guilty in September before a federal judge in New Jersey to taking the money in connection with more than $50 million in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contracts in Iraq.

Charges included wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery and to defraud the U.S. government, money laundering and tax offenses. Two other Army corps employees and two foreign contractors also were charged in the indictment.

NazarethPatch reports that as part of the plea, Salama Markus — a U.S. citizen born in Egypt — agreed to forfeit at least $3.7 million.

Working in Tikrit, he was involved in the review and award process for contractors seeking “lucrative” Army corps contracts, as well as the administration, oversight and modification of the contracts after they were awarded.

(Source: NazarethPatch)