Corruption takes centre stage as defence minister attacks accusers

Iraq & Kurdistan

Published on Monday, 15 August 2016 Back to articles

Iraq Defense Minister Shawkat B. Zebari and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey have a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Baghdad, Iraq, March 9, 2015. (DOD photo by D. Myles Cullen/Released)

Iraq has been rocked this month by a major corruption scandal involving a number of prominent Sunni political figures. On 1 August, defence minister Khalid al-Obeidi was called to parliament to answer a series of questions in relation to allegations of corruption.

Although the details of the allegations are unclear, the summons was issued by parliament’s security and defence committee. A number of members of the committee were especially determined to force the minister to answer to the charges against him. Foremost among them was State of Law Alliance MP Alia Nasif, long a controversial figure on the Iraqi political scene. Accused of being a former Ba’athist, she was a member of former prime minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc until 2014, when she joined State of Law.

But al-Obeidi turned the tables on his accusers with a string of accusations of his own. Most of those he accused were from his own Sunni alliance and included head of parliament Salim al-Jibouri, who is from the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Iraqi arm of the global Muslim Brotherhood movement. Corruption allegations in Iraq are nothing new. But al-Obeidi went further than usual, providing names, as well as a wealth of detail, in relation to the charges.

Perhaps the most prominent of all those he accused was the speaker of parliament Salim al-Jibouri (b.1971), who he claimed had been involved in a number of decidedly dodgy deals.

This included a contract to supply food to the military. Al-Jibouri had, according to al-Obeidi, insisted that a particular company be given this contract. During an inspection carried out after complaints about the poor quality of the food, it was discovered that although the Iraqi state is paying US$18 a day for every soldier’s food, the company is spending only US$2.

That wasn’t all. Al-Obeidi also alleged that al-Jibouri, along with Mohamed al-Karbouli — a Sunni MP for Anbar and head of the Solution bloc — was involved in taking a commission on contracts to supply Iraq with aircraft.

Al-Obeidi also alleged that al-Jibouri and al-Karbouli control everything, including appointments, in the Education Ministry. He also laid into al-Jibouri’s brother, and accused him of taking money from military officers who were trying to be posted to different areas.

The defence minister also shed light on other deals he claimed were corrupt. This included a deal to import 1,300 Humvee military vehicles at double their actual cost; another to import Mercedes cars and another to import military jets that were to be used for training.

Al-Obeidi also didn’t hold back when laying into Nasif. He accused her of trying to blackmail him by asking him to appoint certain individuals to jobs.

He also alleged that before the session those MPs and contractors he was accusing — who clearly knew what was coming — had demanded that he pay them US$2 billion to ensure the session was cancelled.

Such blatant revelations and accusations were clearly a huge bombshell not only for those implicated by al-Obeidi, but for the whole political establishment. There is a real fear among the country’s political elite that this could be just the tip of the iceberg and that others will now come forward with similar accusations. Speaking about al-Obeidi’s claims, one senior Iraqi source told the pan-Arab al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, “It is possible that the story hasn’t even started yet, especially given that the Defence Ministry is a mine of corruption.”

For full details see – Iraq & Kurdistan Focus – August 2016

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