Recent protests in Iraq have put the endemic corruption in the country under the spotlight, writes Salah Hemeid While Iraq's Jasmine Revolution might not have blossomed because of the crackdown ordered by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, which imposed a strict curfew and used police brutality to suppress the protests, the short-lived uprising did draw greater attention to the government's shortcomings, among them its failure to fight endemic corruption in the country. Protesters in Iraq have made corruption a particular target of their demands, and it has been a major problem in the country at least since the 2003 US-led invasion. Iraq is ranked as the world's fifth most corrupt nation in the NGO Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index after Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan. Iraq's parliament has announced that it wants to fight corruption in the country, though many Iraqis, frustrated with shoddy government services, graft and high rates of unemployment, doubt that their scandal-besmirched House of Representatives will be able to solve the growing problem. On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament ordered an investigation into reports claiming that thousands of government employees, including top officials who are either members of the governing coalition or its cronies, had forged educational certificates to make their way into the state bureaucracy. According to the allegations, tens of thousands of government employees have faked the certificates in order to obtain jobs or promotion. The country's parliament warned that anyone convicted of this type of fraud risked prison, but said that those who had been paid for jobs that they had obtained fraudulently would not be required to return paycheques if they admitted their offences. According to some reports, the fake diplomas and educational certificates have been trading at anywhere between $1,500 and $7,000, with officials at Iraq's ministry of higher education being singled out for blame, the ministry having also licensed a string of shadowy universities over recent years. While the statements made by the Iraqi parliament might seem to indicate that the parliament is trying to push the government into taking more effective action to halt the endemic scams that exist in the country, in fact many lawmakers also face various charges of corruption, including faking certificates to get into parliament, according to the Iraqi media. On Sunday, Sabah Al-Saedi, a member of the parliament's integrity committee, accused other members of trying to hamper the committee's work and block attempts to introduce bills to fight corruption. Few Iraqis believe that the country's parliament can be trusted to lead the campaign against corruption, since lawmakers are blamed for some of the worst corruption and thievery in the country. Lawmakers are accused of enriching themselves through extortion and of giving themselves large salaries and extensive privileges while the rest of the population continues to see standards of living deteriorate and corruption reach feverish levels. Iraqis have been complaining that they are in the dark about lawmakers' salaries, even though under the country's constitution the salaries and privileges of senior government officials and members of parliament are supposed to be published in the Official Gazette, something which has never happened. According to various sources, including the lawmakers themselves, an Iraqi member of parliament earns $129,800 a year. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani earns about $700,000 a year in salary, excluding benefits, according to the Aswat Al-Iraq website, while Prime Minister Al-Maliki's pay is reported to be around $30,000 per month. However, these and other senior officials are also believed to receive further "social allowances" totalling millions of dollars a year that are not subject to scrutiny or auditing. Such figures have contributed to the stretched state of the country's finances over the past eight years, and they are more than 100 times higher than the current average monthly income in Iraq, which is about $600 a month. Some of the money paid in official salaries could undoubtedly have been used for reconstruction or to create jobs for the country's unemployed young people. The Iraqi government estimates unemployment rates to stand at 23 per cent of the adult population, although some NGOs say the figures are nearly triple what the government claims. In response to recent simmering public revolt, Iraqi lawmakers agreed on Saturday to cut their monthly pay in half, also agreeing to reduce the salaries of the nation's top leaders. However, even if implemented, the plan would leave some $20,000 a month in housing and security allowances untouched, as well as additional $90,000 annual stipends. Corruption in Iraq has become endemic, with many Iraqis believing that the government and parliament are so full of compromised members that they can do little to stop it, even if they wanted to. In addition to its effects on reconstruction and economic life, corruption among police officers also has far-reaching consequences on security in a country that is still struggling with violence. Brigadier General Jihad Al-Jabiri, head of the Iraqi Interior Ministry's explosives department, is currently under investigation for his role in buying useless "bomb detectors" to be used by police at checkpoints. The devices have proven to be useless and can only detect perfumes and detergents. Investigations by London police have indicated that hundreds of deaths have occurred in Iraq over the last few years because of these detectors, known as Alpha 6 and produced by four British companies. Aqeel Al-Turaihi, the interior ministry's chief of inspections, told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper on Saturday that the false detectors, consisting of a radio aerial attached to a plastic handle, are usually sold for $18 each, but that they had been billed to Iraq at a cost of 15,000 GBP each. Al-Turaihi accused unnamed officials of blocking investigations into the scam, believed to have cost Iraq some $50 million. Iraqi media reports have indicated that two officials belonging to Al-Maliki's Daawa Party were embroiled in the deals. Two other Ministry of Interior officials are also under investigation on charges of corruption, with brigadier general Numan Dakhil, commander of Iraq's rapid response force, being arrested after a set-up in which he was filmed taking a $50,000 bribe. The results of such corruption can be devastating in terms of both casualties and money. Last week, Iraqi security forces foiled a plot to bomb the Baiji oil refinery just days after militants attacked it killing four workers and detonating bombs that sparked a raging fire and shut down the plant for two days. A further bomb on Tuesday evening also shut down the Iraq- Turkey pipeline, which carries a quarter of Iraq's crude oil exports. The police have been blamed in both incidents for not providing enough security to protect oil facilities that have long been receiving threats from local gangs and militias. Senior police officers and others are also believed to be collaborating with smugglers who steal oil from state-owned installations and then ship it to neighbouring countries such as Iran and Turkey. However, all this is just the tip of the iceberg, since last month Iraqi officials said that they were not able to account for nearly $40 billion that was missing from the Development Fund for Iraq, more than half of the country's total 2010 budget of $72.4 billion. Development Fund money is collected primarily through state oil sales, and it is intended to aid in the rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure and to enhance security and alleviate hardship. Iraqi demonstrators have not so far called for the overthrow of their rulers, unlike in other Arab countries where protesters have demanded the ouster of long-ruling autocrats, explained by an assumption that disgruntled Iraqis are only concerned to rail against the shortcomings of a freely elected government. However, the reason Iraqis may have held off on demands for regime change may have more to do with more pressing concerns of corruption, rising unemployment, high food prices, lack of basic services and inadequate policing that have all stalled reconstruction efforts in this war-devastated nation. In the Iraqi case, the country's corrupt and inefficient politicians are the despots, having little legitimacy even if elected and being ready for ousting. All this may have meant that though the prospect of an Iraqi uprising may have reached a lull for the time being, it has scarcely disappeared.
