The latest corruption news from Iraq – company or government bribes, theft, stealing – brought to you by Iraq Business News
By John Lee. Stuart Bowen, the former Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), has claimed that between $1.2 billion [1.4 trillion Iraqi dinars] and $1.6 billion [IQD 1.9 trillion] allocated for the reconstruction of Iraq was stolen and hidden in a bunker in Lebanon, as the American and Iraqi governments ignored appeals to recover […]
This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The ‘Astronaut’ Problem: Iraqi Soldiers Who Pay Money To Officers So They Don’t Fight The Iraqi army is suffering badly from what locals describe as the “astronaut phenomenon”. That is, […]
By John Lee. Iraqi Parliament Advisor for National Reconciliation, ex-MP Wihda al-Jumaili, has told Aswat Al Iraq that "financial corruption" was discovered in the use of funds allocated to the National Reconciliation Project. She added that "despite spending much money, the project is not alive". Jumaili said that great amounts of money were spent during […]
By John Lee. According to a report from Reuters, a US federal appeals court has rejected Iraq's effort to sue dozens of companies for allegedly conspiring with the Saddam Hussein regime to subvert the United Nations' oil-for-food programme and deprive Iraqi citizens of humanitarian aid. The court said Iraq's government could not recoup damages under […]
By John Lee. A bank account belonging to Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. envoy to Iraq, and another belonging to his wife, Cheryl Benard, have been unfrozen by the high court in Vienna, Austria. According to a report from Bloomberg, the the accounts were unfrozen on 3rd September, a week before reports that the U.S. […]
By John Lee. Bloomberg reports that A US probe into alleged money laundering by former Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad (pictured), has led Austrian authorities to freeze a Vienna bank account linked to him. Khalilzad allegedly transferred $1.4 million to a bank account owned by his wife, Cheryl Benard, in Vienna. According to reports, the money […]
This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Paying For The Caliphate: When Extremists Become Bad Bank Managers In Mosul Up until now, locals in Mosul, the northern city under the control of Sunni Muslim extremists, have not […]
By John Lee. A 51-year-old American has been charged in federal court with defrauding the co-founders and investors of a company out of approximately $175,000, relating to proposed investments in Iraq. Prosecutors in Connecticut assert that Joseph T. Morris claimed to have extensive military and business experience in Iraq, and was the company’s in-country manager […]
By John Lee. Shares in Afren plc have fallen by more than 30 percent on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, following the announcement that the Board has temporarily suspended the CEO, Osman Shahenshah (pictured) and the COO, Shahid Ullah, pending the investigation of alleged “unauthorised payments”. The company has operations at the Barda Rash, […]
By John Lee. A former contractor has been extradited from Iraq after six years on the run, making him the first person to be returned to the United States under the U.S.-Iraq extradition treaty of 1936. Metin Atilan, 54, who has dual U.S. and Turkish citizenship, pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges on […]
From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Bribery, corruption, and nepotism have led some analysts to say Iraq's military has been "built to fail". Billions of dollars have been spent rebuilding the military since the fall of Sadaam Hussein, but […]
By Harith Hasan for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. A video of Mahmoud al-Hassan, an Iraqi member of parliament (MP) from the State of Law Coalition, talking to a group of farmers in the province of Diwaniyah has circulated in […]
