Iraq: parliament refers corruption files to judiciary

The head of the Parliamentary Investigative Committee in Iraq revealed on Wednesday that it has referred 46 corruption files related to the electricity sector to the Court of Integrity, Iraq News agency has reported.

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hassan Karim Al-Kaabi, stressed that the committee takes into account “impartiality and transparency and checks all information… Corruption files are now subject to Iraqi Judicial Authority investigations.”

Last July, the Iraqi parliament formed a committee to investigate the contracts signed by the Ministry of Electricity during the period 2005 to 2010, following the decline in electricity production in the country. Five months later, the parliament said that the total spending by the ministry on contracts during this period was around $81 billion.

Iraq produces 19,000 megawatts of electricity, but it needs more than 30,000.

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