The latest corruption news from Iraq – company or government bribes, theft, stealing – brought to you by Iraq Business News
By John Lee. The former president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of a New Jersey-based international engineering consulting company has been sentenced to 12 months of home confinement and fined $4.5 million for conspiring to defraud the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with respect to billions of dollars in contracts over […]
By John Lee. A man extradited from Iraq to the United States has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and to two charges related to leaving the country after his arrest. Metin Atilan, who has dual Turkish and U.S. citizenship, was charged with conspiring to pay bribes and kickbacks to win a contract […]
By John Lee. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has completely rejected what it calls "the false and malicious allegations of misuse of funds made against the KRG and the Minister of Natural Resources" by an opposition MP in the Republic of South Korea and which were published by the Korea Times. Korean MP Chun Soon-ok […]
By Adnan Abu Zeed for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Meager employment opportunities have led Iraqi university graduates holding doctoral and master's degrees to despair, as they pursue fruitless searches for jobs in government ministries and the private sector. In Babil province Feb. 3, […]
By Wassim Bassem for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. An Iraqi contractor who works on road pavement and sewage projects in the Iraqi capital told Al-Monitor, “Government officials as well as senior contractors related to them have stakes in most, if not all, of […]
By John Lee. Two companies, Supreme Foodservice GmbH and Supreme Foodservice FZE, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and been ordered to pay $288.3 million (336 billion Iraqi dinars) in fines and restitutions. According to the US Department of Justice, the companies, part of the Supreme Group, supplied food and water to coalition troops in Iraq […]
By John Lee. The former CEO of US-based engineering consulting firm Louis Berger Group has pleaded guilty to overbilling for reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bloomberg reports that Derish Wolff, 79, admitted that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) over nearly 20 years, enriching himself and his company with […]
By Wassim Bassem for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The first rainfall of the season swept Iraqi cities Nov. 21, causing flooding in schools, houses and streets. Siham Ahmed, a student from al-Diwaniya city south of Baghdad, couldn’t get to […]
By John Lee. On a recent visit to the holy city of Karbala, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi described the existence of "ghost" soldiers as a crime on two fronts - the theft of public money and the breach in security which led to the murders of innocent people. He described the efforts of the Ministry of […]
On Tuesday, the world commemorated the International Anti Corruption Day. On that Day, 9 December, 11 years ago, the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), was first opened for signature and adoption by Member States of the United Nations, in Mexico. The Convention named the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as the […]
By John Lee. Transparency International has said that Iraq has risen one place in its global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). From at total of 175 countries, Iraq came in at number 170, slightly better than last year's position of 171. This result puts it ahead of countries such as Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Somalia (which […]
By John Lee. The son of former Iraqi Prime Minister and current Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly been arrested in Lebanon in possession of more than US $1.5 billion "in cash". BasNews cites Lebanese media sources as claiming that Ahmed al-Maliki is being detained in a prison on Beirut, and that Nouri al-Maliki has […]
