The latest corruption news from Iraq – company or government bribes, theft, stealing – brought to you by Iraq Business News
The Chief Executive Officer of Sweden's Scania AB, Leif Oestling, will be called for questioning by a Swedish prosecutor over allegations that the truckmaker violated United Nations sanctions against Iraq, Dagens Industri reported, citing an interview with the prosecutor. Prosecutor Nils-Eric Schultz will ask Oestling whether his employees may have violated sanctions without his knowledge, […]
AKnews reports that an adviser at the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB) stated on Tuesday that a new law has been submitted to the parliament to combat money laundering in coordination with other government institutions, in order to provide greater protection for Iraq's economic system. Muzher Mohammed Saleh told AKnews that the new law is more […]
Bloomberg reports that U.S. prosecutors have filed a civil suit against Kuwaiti logistics company Agility, accusing it of defrauding the government over food contracts to the U.S. military in the Middle East worth $9.8 billion. Agility was the largest supplier to the U.S. Army in the Middle East during the war in Iraq and a […]
The Defense Department is being forced to extend multimillion-dollar contracts for services in Iraq, including one with a firm under criminal indictment, because losing bidders have legally challenged the companies selected as replacements, according to a report from the Washington Post. The Kuwaiti firm Agility, charged in November 2009 with overbilling food contracts worth $8.5 […]
Scottish engineer Weir Group (LSE: WEIR) has agreed to plead guilty to two charges of breaching UN sanctions in connection with a number of UN sanctioned Oil for Food programme contracts awarded between 2000 and 2002. Following the guilty plea, the Company will be subject to a confiscation order in respect of its benefit from […]
The following article was written by Ali Al-Mawlawi, an Iraqi research fellow at Baghdad-based independent think tank, the Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform. It was published by openDemocracy, and is reproduced here under their Creative Commons licence. The World Bank has described corruption as ‘the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development.” The prospects […]
An adviser in the Iraqi government has said that the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has instructed the Interior Ministry to combat corruption at border crossing points. Ahmed al-Shihani told AKnews that the Prime Minister called for action to be taken following official reports about rising corruption at Iraq’s border crossings -- particularly the borders with […]
The Chairman of the Iraqi Commission on Integrity, Rahim al-Ugeily, has announced on Thursday that 2,300 defendants have been prosecuted this year on charges of corruption, totalling in excess of 600 billion (b) Iraqi Dinars (US$535 million approx.). 600 people have been sentenced to various jail sentences. Judge Ugeily was speaking in a workshop taking […]
Iraq's Ministry of Oil denied on Monday that the cause of Iraqi air pollution is the use of tetra ethyl lead (TEL) as an additive to the petrol used in cars. The Ministry stressed that [imported] fuel does not contain this substance, while the locally produced petrol uses it only in small quantities. TEL has […]
We reported recently on the excessive salaries and expenses being drawn by Iraq's parliamentarians -- it now seems the country has run out of money to pay for widows' benefits, farm crops and other programs for the poor. According to Associated Press, in only the parliament's fourth session since being elected in March, its members […]
As Iraq's politicians continue to haggle over the formation of the next government, the World Bank has issued its latest Doing Business 2011 report, and the incoming administration would do well to read it. Consider the following: Out of 183 countries monitored, Iraq ranks 166th, behind even Haiti and Zimbabwe; No business regulation reforms have […]
Swedish truck maker Scania paid $5 million in kickbacks through the U.N.'s oil-for-food program in Iraq, possibly violating both U.S. and Swedish laws, an anti-corruption investigator said on Friday, according to a report from Associated Press. Swedish prosecutor Nils-Eric Schultz told the agency he is preparing to file charges in Sweden against several company officials […]
