The head of the Integrity Commission in Iraq accuses London and Washington of providing a haven for thieves of public funds and financing terrorism

Iraq – The head of the Federal Integrity Commission in Iraq, Haider Hanoun, confirmed that Britain and the United States provide a haven for thieves of public funds and terrorist financing.

Iraq is ranked 157th according to Transparency International’s anti-corruption engines

Judge Hanoun said: “We came to develop an executive road map for what was stated in the memorandum of understanding with the Russian Public Prosecutor’s Office. Also, understandings were concluded with the Russian Ministry of Justice, and we are currently embarking on a memorandum of understanding that was presented to us by the Ministry, since most of the powers carried out by the Russian Ministry of Justice fall within the powers of the Authority.” Federal integrity, the most important of which is monitoring non-governmental organizations and civil society, as well as financial disclosure, in addition to the significant overlap with the anti-corruption file and its support by interacting with the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. A meeting was also held with the Russian State Duma, which includes a special parliamentary committee for combating corruption, in the field of obtaining important and accurate information about The recent legislation undertaken by the State of Russia in the field of combating corruption, as there have been fundamental changes in this field in terms of restructuring institutions and restructuring laws, and the national law that was enacted in the Duma is considered a strong basis for combating corruption.”

He continued: “Transparency International’s classification depends on indicators of perceptions of corruption, including bribery and embezzlement, as well as officials obtaining or exploiting the authority of public office to obtain illegal gains, impunity, and many other indicators.”

He added: “The Integrity Commission has been working for more than a year and in conjunction with the current government, which has placed in its program the priority of combating corruption. It has worked diligently and actively and achieved unprecedented achievements.” If we measure the achievements of the Federal Integrity Commission during the past year and three months at the level of the Arab region as a whole, there will be a big difference in favor of the Federal Integrity Commission. We worked in the field of the “Where did you get this from” campaign, in the field of major anti-corruption seizure operations, completing files related to reports and criminal cases, and in the field of recovering accused persons and recovering money.”

Hanoun pointed out that Transparency International has many drivers for countries to rise to a higher level in the fight against corruption, the most important of which is the enactment of laws.

He added: “Failing to complete the legislation of the right to access information law, which is called the Transparency Law, falls within our international obligations to combat corruption. The law was approved in the first reading in the House of Representatives so far. Transparency International does not just want to legislate the law, it wants to see applications in the practical field, because this law will give the citizen the right to access information, access to payments, and how to make appointments to jobs, whether small or large. This law, which the Integrity Commission worked on legislating, supported, completed its procedures, and was voted on by the Council of Ministers, will be completed soon and will be one of the tremendous steps that will raise Iraq’s level of transparency.”

He continued: “The development that took place in Iraq put us in rank 154, not 157, that is, three places lower than the previous indicators, but the points are still the same, God willing. We hope during the next two years to make major leaps because we met several days ago with Transparency International and asked it to have a headquarters.” Constant in Iraq so that you can be directly informed of the achievements taking place in Iraq at all levels in terms of combating corruption. We also reached great understandings with it about how to reach real indicators and use accurate, transparent and fair means for these indicators.”

Judge Hanoun stressed that the Integrity Commission is not affiliated with the government in Iraq, but rather is an independent federal body, like the Elections Commission and the Human Rights Commission. He said: “Article 102 of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005 indicates that these three bodies are independent federal bodies that are not linked to any authority monitored by the House of Representatives, such as the House of Representatives monitoring the government by the same constitutional means. The Authority is linked to the government, just as the rest of the institutions are linked to the ministerial and governmental program it sets. This ministerial and governmental program represents the general policy of the state, and in accordance with Article 78 of the Constitution, which says that the Prime Minister is directly responsible for the general policy of the State, not the government. Likewise, Article 80 of the Constitution says that the Council of Ministers is the one who He sets the general policy of the state and keeps up with its implementation. We are obligated, based on the general policy of the state, to adhere to the government program, especially since this government program at this stage is considered a gain for the Authority because it includes the priority of combating corruption, the priority of programs, and the priority of foundations. We have benefited from the government’s support by supporting the Authority with employees from the government and the transformation. To digital work and strengthening experienced personnel. The authority needs a larger staff and broader support.”

Regarding the amount of public money looted in Iraq, Judge Hanoun said that the numbers published in the media are “hypothetical and we have never reached the real number.” The reasons are many, including the international hypocrisy of some countries that tell us to fight corruption while they embrace the biggest corrupt people fleeing Iraq. Our large looted funds are embraced and placed in their major banks, and they are also included in their economies. Therefore, our smuggled funds are many, but the main obstacle is in revealing their size, the quantity that smuggled, and the names of the account holders deposited in foreign banks. We face obstacles placed by international banks as well as state administrations when they do not reveal to us these accounts and the names of corrupt Iraqis in whose names there are large accounts. We are seeking to obtain the largest possible space to reach the amounts that were stolen, but in reality the reality that we must acknowledge is that the amounts are large, and over 19 years ago, a lot of money was stolen from Iraq and entered into accounts and deposits in giant banks and large economies, and some of the money went to terrorism. Whoever says how terrorism is financed, I tell him that it is financed with corruption money from the accounts of corrupt people who plundered Iraq and are being sheltered by the United States, Britain, and other regional countries. The lack of international interaction and cooperation with the corruption file is the big problem facing Iraq.”

Source: RT