The report submitted by the investigative committee in charge of looking into the source of the fires at the Interior Ministry and the Education Ministry was similar to many other reports: an electrical short circuit caused the fires and it was not deliberate, they reported.
Earlier fires include several notable examples that fit the same pattern. Possibly the best known was the blaze that engulfed Iraq’s central bank building in Baghdad at the end of January 2008 destroying many documents in the budgets section.
In August 2010, the LA Times reported on another fire at the central bank that appeared to have been set either by, or at the same time as, a terrorist attack by extremist Sunni Muslims on the building. “Investigators became suspicious after they discovered that the fire was not caused by any of the explosions, but rather appeared to have been started deliberately in a second-floor room that is used by the inspector general responsible for investigating corruption cases,” the newspaper reported.
In March of the same year, another fire broke out in the contracts and imports section at the Ministry of Oil. Even then, employees of the ministry were saying that the fire, which burned for over two hours, was intentional, to cover up a major scandal.
Then in mid-June 2008, a fire broke out inside the Ministry of Health, resulting in the loss of all drug importers’ contracts and completely destroying the ninth floor of the building. One of the biggest allegations of corruption against this ministry is that contracts are inappropriately decided upon and that many imported pharmaceuticals bound for the Ministry of Health end up on the black market. The local media often complain that the lack of correct drugs has caused deaths.
A fire has also broken out inside the fifth floor of the Ministry of Trade, where documents relating to ration cards are held. The breakdown in the ration card system, which was instituted in the early 1990s after sanctions were imposed on Iraq following the country’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, has been a major cause of protests among Iraqis. It was also a priority for investigation by the IoC. Ration cards cover a number of staples but in recent years, items in the national food assistance programme have often been delayed or not delivered at all.
And the fire itself started just as the IoC was beginning to intensify its investigations into the former Minister of Trade, Abdel Falah al-Sudani, and his brothers who also worked for the ministry. He was accused of importing expired commodities and procuring illegal contracts.
In May 2009, al-Sudani resigned amid allegations of corruption and embezzlement.
(Source: NIQASH)
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