Iraq arrests public servants in Mosul on corruption charges in wake of deadly ferry capsizing
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Integrity Commission carried out a campaign of arrests against a number of public employees accused of corruption in Mosul, the rebuilding of which has lagged even two years after its liberation from the Islamic State, local sources said.
The move comes amid growing public discontent in the city following the recent capsizing of an overloaded ferry, an accident which disrupted the joyous atmosphere of public celebrations for the Newroz New Year.
Local sources told Kurdistan 24 the Integrity Commission on Sunday arrested multiple government employees in Nineveh: the director of provincial accounting, Rasha Daham, who has long been marred by allegations of corruption; Director of Contracts Department, Wajida Jafaar; an employee in the Human Resources Department; as well as two other municipality civil servants.
Jafaar is also the Reconstruction Affairs Deputy to the now-former governor of Nineveh, Nawfal al-Akub, sacked by the Iraqi parliament on Sunday in the wake of the ferry accident. During Akub’s tenure, the province’s reconstruction has been either slow or qualitatively controversial.
The sources claimed the investigation on Jafaar focused on the matter of contracts which were under her supervision. The sources could not offer further details.
“The director of real estate registration for eastern Mosul, Farhan Hussein Taha, was arrested,” another source who chose to remain anonymous told Kurdistan 24. He added that “another employee was arrested on charges of tampering with real estate records.”
“The campaign of arrests may reach more than 30 people,” the source noted, adding that all these people would be investigated on charges of corruption. Local reports suggested that an as-of-yet unspecified number of municipal employees were also arrested.
Though the arrests were not directly related to the tragic ferry incident, the deaths of about a hundred people – many of whom were women and children – sparked public outrage and protests demanding entities allegedly criminally negligent in the case be brought to justice.
In response, the central government has taken some steps to shake up the leadership of the province.
On Friday, in efforts to address the woes of the province, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi suspended governor Akub and handed over the administration of the province to the directors of Nineveh University, provincial police forces, and the Nineveh Operations Command, the latter of which reportedly now holds executive authority over provincial affairs.
Iraq continues to rank high on Transparency International’s list for corruption, fraud, and mismanagement of state institutions, some of the most significant challenges facing the country since the fall of the former regime.
According to the organization’s 2017 Corruption Index, Iraq ranks 169th, the eleventh most corrupt country out of a total 180.
Editing by Nadia Riva
