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Iraqi parliament assures corruption in aircraft deals

By Hadi al-Osami Baghdad - The Integrity Committee in the parliament revealed Thursday about evidences and documents that confirm the existence of financial and administrative corruption in the Iraqi Defense Ministry, particularly with regard to contracts to buy military aircraft, stressing on that it will begin investigating these files at the beginning of next week.

Aliya Nassif, a member of the committee told AKnews that the Office of Financial Supervision and the Office of the Inspector General at the Ministry of Defense provided evidences to its commission that confirm the existence of financial and administrative corruption in these contracts.

The Iraqi cabinet has approved on the 26th of January on a deal to buy 18 F-16 American-made fighters.

The Iraqi air force command announced on September 24 about the arrival of 11 (T-6) aircraft for basic training within a deal that includes 15 aircraft according to an agreement between the Iraqi and U.S. government.

U.S. forces began the rehabilitation of the Iraqi air force by processing it with a number of helicopters that have been made to the striking force of the Ministry of Defence and used in many of the battles fought by the Iraqi army against al-Qaeda in some provinces.

Corruption is a major problem for Iraq since 2003, and the corruption index issued by the International Transparency Commission in 2010 ranked Iraq among the world's most corrupted countries.

"The commission will also examine some of the issues pertaining the Defense Ministry about the death of persons in mysterious circumstances. The Integrity Committee is determined to bring those involved in corruption to the Iraqi judiciary even if they were at high levels in the state."

"The Integrity commission in the parliament put a timetable to open the files of the Iraqi ministries to investigate the administrative and financial corruption, and all ministries were placed within the table, without exception."

"The Integrity Committee in the parliament turned the three files that it investigated about last week about the ineffective explosives detecting devices, the file of reconstruction of Sadr and Shola cities and the file of purchase of civilian aircraft to the Iraqi judiciary, on Thursday, after the completion of technical issues within the commission."

The Integrity Committee in the parliament announced Monday about the completion of the study of more than 9,000 documents that prove the existence of administrative and financial corruption in three main files that are the ineffective explosives detecting devices, the file of reconstruction of Sadr and Shola cities and the file of purchase of civilian aircraft, pointing out to the involvement of ministers, agents, general managers and senior officers in these files.

© AK News 2011