Journalist Alaa Kouly told Al-Monitor, “Bribery has become the key element of state transactions, and it no longer has a social stigma [attached to it] or is considered a misdemeanor.”
In his opinion, this is due to a lack of “legal accountability.” He said, “Everyone is bribed, even security men and legal officials who are supposed to fight this phenomenon.”
Political analyst and writer Ali Mared al-Assadi told Al-Monitor, “Bribery has become a part of general culture in Iraq, although the term is replaced by others such as 'gift' or 'contribution.' Not many people condemn it or refrain from engaging in it, especially after 1990 when [state agency] employees’ salaries plunged following the war with Kuwait and the economic blockade on Iraq during the 1990s.”
On the one hand, employees and officials abuse their political positions and employment to make money illegally. On the other, citizens are pressed and resort to bribery to get paperwork done quickly. What other option does a citizen whose legal papers require the signature of a state employee have?
Bribery is rampant in all state agencies, including the real estate department. Said Hasan, a teacher in Babil, told Al-Monitor, “I had to bribe an employee at the real estate department to complete a legal transaction of a property I bought.”
A report issued by the Commission of Integrity on Dec. 5, 2014, stated, “The General Commission for Taxes in Najaf tops the list of most bribed departments in Iraq.”
Perhaps bribery is not a new practice in Iraqi society and the Arab world, and it was a reason behind the Arab Spring revolutions; but in recent years, it has turned into a widespread phenomenon. Civil and media activist Hasanein Ali told Al-Monitor, “It [bribery] is a disease plaguing Iraqi society’s structure. It has even reached [the level of] the medical secretaries in private clinics. It is enough to offer a sum of money to move up a doctor's appointment and avoid the long waitlist.”
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