Iraq: Government orders audit of officials' funds

The head of the Federal Commission of Integrity (COI), Haider Hanoun, confirmed the audit of inflation and illegal gain of funds of Iraqi officials, noting that this measure contributes to bringing the accused to justice, in addition to returning the value of inflation of their funds to the state treasury.

A statement by the COI conveyed: “During his visit to the headquarters of the COI and his meeting with the head of the investigation department in the COI, his assistants, directors and the heads of the investigation in Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala and Babylon urged the staff of the department to intensify their efforts to investigate the information received by the department in accordance with the laws in force and to expedite the completion of cases, in a way that achieves sufficient deterrence for anyone who tries to bypass the law and seize public money. These efforts can contribute to restoring citizens’ confidence in the state and its institutions, especially the supervisory ones.”

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It also pointed out: “Citizens are the focus of the Commission’s team’s work during its operations in the service departments.” It also stressed the need to: “Strike with an iron fist at anyone who tries to take advantage through extortion, bargaining and asking for bribes to complete or facilitate their transactions.”

The Commission also stressed the importance of: “Following up on monitoring the integrity and accuracy of the data provided by those charged with examining interests and matching that data in the financial disclosure form with the reality of that covered.” It noted the need for: “Checking and uncovering indicators of inflation and illegal gain of funds of those covered by filling out the financial disclosure form. This is in order to detect inflation and bring the accused to justice so that they receive their just punishment on the one hand and to return the value of inflation and illegal gain to the state treasury on the other.”

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