Tag Archives | Corruption

The latest corruption news from Iraq – company or government bribes, theft, stealing – brought to you by Iraq Business News

UN Releases Study On Corruption In Iraq

Iraq’s Commission of Integrity, with the support of the Central Statistics Office and UNDP Iraq, has announced the findings from its study on corruption and integrity in Iraq’s public sector. This study offered new evidence to help the Government of Iraq, civil society, the UN in Iraq, NGOs and other organizations working in Iraq to […]

Officials Divided Over Dinar 'Reset'

By Omar al-Shaher for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Two Iraqi parliamentary committees monitoring fiscal policy in Iraq have held two contradictory positions on the Iraqi currency “reset” project, which would delete three zeros from the currency. There has been […]

Total Cleared of Iraqi Corruption

By John Lee. A Paris court has cleared oil company Total, its chief executive Christophe de Margerie (pictured), and over a dozen other defendants of corruption charges related to the UN's oil-for-food programme in Iraq. The former interior minister Charles Pasqua, the Swiss oil trader Vitol, and a former French ambassador to the UN, were […]

Anti-Corruption Drive in Schools

The Ministry of Education has today launched new curricula for both primary and secondary schools in Iraq. The aim is to raise awareness and understanding of the concepts of integrity, transparency, human rights and honesty. The new curricula were designed by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP). This innovative […]

Maliki Insists some Fake Bomb Detectors Work

The Iraqi Prime Minister reportedly insisted on Monday that some of the fake bomb detectors Iraq bought are actually functional, despite overwhelming evidence that none of them work. According to AFP, Nouri al-Maliki told reporters: "The best device in the world does not detect (explosives) more than 60 percent (of the time)... and results we […]

Conman Jailed for Selling Fake Bomb Detectors

The conman who made $84 million selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other countries has been jailed for ten years by a court in the UK. Passing sentence on Jim McCormick, Judge Richard Hone said: "The device was useless, the profits outrageous and your culpability as a fraudster has to be placed in the […]

Zero Tolerance for Corruption

By Padraig O'Hannelly. Before the local elections, an art student climbed the tallest building in central Baghdad and hung a banner depicting a giant eye, with the caption "We can see you", overlooking the Green Zone. It's an image that should be in the minds of all who consider bribery to be a perk of […]

$84m from Fake Bomb Detector Scam

A British businessman has been found guilty of an $84-million fraud involving the sale of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other countries. A jury found Jim McCormick guilty on three counts of fraud over the scam, which involved passing off novelty golfball finders, containing no functioning electronics, as bomb detectors. They "ADE651" detectors were […]

Leighton Looks to Move on from Iraq Scandal

By John Lee. Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) chairman, Riad Al Sadik (pictured), has said Leighton's name “became very, very bad in Iraq” in 2012 following the bribery scandal. “HLG was definitely affected,” he told The Australian. “It took us quite some time to clean this up.” The company sacked a senior manager last year as […]

Sunni Endowment Official Arrested for Bribery

By John Lee. A team from Iraq's Commission on Integrity (CoI) has arrested an official of the Sunni Endowment for taking bribes to from investors in return for the use of a property owned by the Endowment. The official is accused of taking a bribe of $250,000 in return for the use of the Sara […]

13-Year Jail Term for US Contractor

By John Lee. An American contractor has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking at least $3.7 million in bribes and kickbacks while working for the US army in Iraq. John Alfy Salama Markus, 40, pleaded guilty in September before a federal judge in New Jersey to taking the money in connection with […]