The absence of a law regulating salaries leaves lawmakers to determine their own paychecks, he said. "We consider this legalized corruption."
Aliyah Nisayef, an MP who sits on the legislature's 13-member Anti-Corruption Committee, said she and a group of other lawmakers tried several times during the previous parliament to pass a law cutting salaries and perks.
Resistance was so fierce that not only did the bill fail to pass, but lawmakers who supported it received death threats, Nisayef said.
"Corruption is an epidemic," Nisayef said. "We are no match for them." She would not detail her own salary, but noted some lawmakers give large amounts to charity.
Recently, the Iraqi press reported that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki awarded cabinet ministers with plots of land in prime Baghdad districts. Far from criticizing him for the blatant patronage, lawmakers publicly demanded the premier put them on the distribution list.
"How can we hold others accountable if we as legislators have no integrity?" Nisayef said.
(Source: Associated Press, Forbes)
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