Iraqi President enacts anti-corruption laws

Iraqi President Barham Salih has proposed a draft law to combat corruption and recover an estimated $150 billion smuggled abroad since 2003.

Salih presented the draft law to parliament to recover the stolen funds and hold perpetrators to account.

“It will provide the required tools to the country’s system and relevant institutions to proactively combat the theft of people’s wealth,” said Salih.

“Since corruption extends beyond Iraq’s borders, combating it can’t be limited to domestic efforts,” Salih explained, remarking that the bill “seeks to recover these funds by concluding agreements with countries, bolstering cooperation with specialized relevant international organizations and bodies and taking advantage of successful global experiences to curb this phenomenon.”

The president called on the United Nations to make a world coalition to fight corruption almost like that formed to fight ISIS.

“Terrorism can only be eradicated by dehydration its sources of financing that believe corruption money,” he stated.

For his part, MP of Muqtada al-Sadr’s political alliance Sairoon, Burhan al-Maamouri, told Asharq Al-Awsat that introducing the draft law may be a major step to finish corruption.

If passed and properly applied, it’ll enable the country to place an end to money smuggling in Iraq, he added.

“The current challenge represents a historic responsibility and a national duty for the relevant authorities,” he said, adding that the political and economic crises and therefore the implications of security, health, and other issues require action.

“Corrupt individuals should be severely punished and therefore the smuggled funds must be recovered,” he stressed.

According to MP Hussein Arab, the parliament will study the bill, being the foremost important within the field of addressing corruption.

The parliament should give priority to the present draft law since it’s the sole means to recover the looted funds, most of which are seized in foreign banks, Arab told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Media Professor at the Iraqi University Dr. Fadel al-Badrani, for his part, considered the bill one among the foremost significant steps that are available line with the great reform process within the country.

“It ensures recovering state funds that are smuggled by the corrupt figures and administrations over the past 18 years.”

Legal expert Faisal Rikan told Asharq Al-Awsat that the draft law should include a piece of writing that needs relevant authorities to conclude bilateral agreements with all world countries that have financial and commercial transactions with Iraq.

These agreements should ensure these countries don’t accept receiving any money by Iraqis before the approval of relevant Iraqi authorities, he stressed.