Iraq hunts for $77bn missing funds in corruption crackdown
- Amount lent over 22 years
- Finance watchdog says loans not repaid
- Former officials arrested
Iraq has launched a probe to trace ID100 trillion ($77 billon) allegedly lent to government officials, ministries and other public entities over the past 22 years.
The Federal Board of Supreme Audit (FBSA), the Iraqi government’s top financial watchdog, said the loans have not been paid back although some were provided as early as 2004 by the finance ministry, central bank and other official bodies.
“There are nearly ID100 trillion in outstanding loans that have not been settled… We have referred thousands of cases to the judiciary and the integrity commission,” FBSA chairman Ammar al-Mashadani was quoted by the state news agency as saying.
“The board’s report reveals that no loan has been paid back… These funds have accumulated since 2004 and have been provided to many parties,” al-Mashadani said.
A group of lawmakers, appearing on local TV, called on parliament to investigate the disappearance of the funds as part of an anti-corruption crackdown launched by prime minister Ali Al-Zaidi after he took office in May.
“A hundred trillion Iraqi dinars are missing and this federal report proves it… This report has been sent to all members of parliament,” Bassim al-Ghorabi, one of the legislators, said.
“These funds have been disbursed to officials, ministries, government agencies, projects and other official parties… these officials and parties have not settled the outstanding funds over the past years,” he said.
Authorities have reported the arrest of a number of former officials and public servants and the recovery of millions of dollars in allegedly stolen funds since the start of the anti-corruption drive.
Corruption and malpractice have been widely blamed for the delay of various projects and relatively low investment flow into Iraq, a country of 48 million people.
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Opec member Iraq, which controls the world’s fifth-largest extractable oil deposits of 145 billion barrels, has not scored well in global corruption indices over recent years.
Last year, the country ranked 136 out of 182 countries in the corruption index of Berlin-based Transparency International.
In a study this month, the head of an Iraqi think tank said official estimates show that funds stolen by corrupt officials and agencies could reach $1 trillion.
“The scale of financial offences poses a significant challenge given official estimates indicating enormous financial losses,” said Gazi Faisal, chairman of the Baghdad-based Iraqi Centre for Strategic Studies, as reported by Al Bawaba News.