Thousands of Iraqi officials to face corruption trials

The Iraqi Integrity Commission has announced that more than 2,000 corruption cases have been referred to the Iraqi judiciary, including cases involving government ministers and senior officials.

The Commission said at least a thousand court rulings have been issued against Iraqi officials, while sources in the Supreme Judicial Council told al-Araby al-Jadeed that an arrest warrant has even been issued against the former minister of higher education, Abd Dhiyab al-Ajili.

During a press conference, the head of the Integrity Commission, Hassan al-Yassiri, said that records for the first half of this year show that 2,171 cases had been referred to the courts - including 13 cases involving ministers or officials at ministerial level and 90 cases involving special rank officials and general directors.

Yassiri stressed the need to coordinate with "certain countries" and take the necessary procedures to apprehend fugitive former officials who have been convicted of corruption, chiefly the former electricity minister Ayham al-Samarrae, former trade minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani and former defence minister Hazem al-Shalaan.

Yassiri also mentioned that more than 2,000 arrest warrants have been issued against allegedly corrupt officials including ministers, adding that 462 warrants had been carried out, while the rest have been held up in the country's complex procedures.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced a series of anti-corruption reforms that include scrapping the positions of the country's three vice-presidents and deputy prime ministers, and reopening old and current corruption cases.