A departmental head at Iraq's South Oil Company (SOC) has reportedly fled the country after being accused of accepting bribes from a subsidiary of Australia's Leighton Holdings to help it secure contracts in southern Iraq. Uday Awad, a member of the Iraqi parliament's oil and energy committee, told The Australian that the head of the […]
The U.S. Embassy wishes to inform U.S. citizens living and working in Iraq that the Government of Iraq will host the Arab League Summit in Baghdad March 27-29, 2012. During this period, the Government of Iraq may take extraordinary security precautions which could have a significant impact on travel throughout Baghdad. The Embassy recommends that […]
Tutor Perini Corporation (NYSE: TPC), a leading civil and building construction company, has announced that its subsidiary, Perini Management Services, Inc. (PMSI), has been awarded a task order valued at $55 million by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Middle East District. The task order was competitively bid under the multi-year USACE MATOC program […]
A series of night time raids starting late on Sunday killed at least 27 police officers in the Anbar town of Hadithah. The police continue to suffer regular attacks but this latest incident appears particularly brutal. In the month of February official sources report that at least 39 policemen were killed at the hands of […]
Iraq has received 400 Chevrolet armoured vehicles in recent days, intended to transport senior foreign officials during the Arab League summit on 29th March in Baghdad, according to AKnews. An MP from the acting Foreign Relations Committee, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the cars were purchased from a budget for the summit allocated two […]
Baghdad Provincial Council has allocated 20 billion IQD (almost $17 million) from its 2012 budget to install sophisticated surveillance cameras across the province. Baghdad Council member Mohammed al-Rabee said there are not enough cameras in Baghdad currently and the stardard are poor, with cameras operating only for limited periods rather than around the clock. This […]
After weeks of declining violence in February, the number of attacks rose once again in Iraq over the last week of the month. At least 53 people were killed and 245 injured in nationwide incidents, which is moderately high, albeit not as high as the figures of over 100 recorded fatalities in some of the […]
The establishment of a new transparency board to promote integrity and anti-corruption practises in Kurdistan was announced on this week, according to AKnews. The so-called Transparency Development and Impeachment Board will investigate government conduct, identify shortcomings and inform the relative bodies. Husam Barzinji [Hisam Hakim Barzinji], the General director of the Kurdistan Economic Development Organization, […]
There was a fall in the number of attacks recorded in Iraq last week, but the death toll was nonetheless higher than normal following a mass-casualty suicide attack targeting a police academy in Baghdad. In total, at least 45 people were killed and 74 injured in nationwide incidents, of which 19 were killed and 29 […]
AKnews reports that businesses and currency traders are rejecting 10,000 dinar notes because of rumours about the increasing spread of counterfeit currency. Government sources said last year that an estimated 7 billion dinars worth of forged 10,000 notes came into Iraq from Iran. The fake currency is said to is said to be of high […]
Despite recent news reports to the contrary, U.S. arms sales to Iraq under the U.S. government’s “Foreign Military Sales” program are completely transparent and accountable, and the sale of army tanks is no exception. The U.S. Embassy emphatically denies a Tuesday report in Al-Dustour newspaper that quoted a “Parliamentary Source” as saying that tanks purchased […]
Fadel Mohammed, legal adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, has said that the Iraqi government is currently pursuing more than 150 foreign companies accused of corruption in the UN's Oil-for-Food program. AKnews reports that the government is determined to bring these companies to justice, adding that there are several other companies under investigation. The Oil-for-Food […]
