ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday welcomed the ongoing crackdown on corruption in Iraq, describing images that surfaced online of cash hidden underground and in brick walls as impactful, while stressing the importance of governments addressing rampant corruption.
"We have no specific insight into those investigations, but I can tell you that you're seeing the pictures I've seen of money found in walls and very strange places - I think that is very moving, in a sense," UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told Rudaw's Namo Abdulla.
"It is clear that globally - and our colleagues at the UN have published many reports on this - corruption is prevalent in so many parts of the world, north, south, east, and west, and it is incumbent on governments to take strong action against corruption for the benefit of their own people," Dujarric added.
The remarks come as Iraqi authorities continue to make headway with Operation Dawn, a large-scale anti-corruption campaign launched Sunday under the direction of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in coordination with Iraq's Federal Commission of Integrity.
The operation has so far netted dozens of Iraqi politicians and lawmakers, former officials, and senior government employees, along with tens of millions of dollars in stolen assets and seized state properties illegally transferred into private ownership.
Earlier Wednesday, Iraq's top anti-corruption court sentenced the former head of the country's tax commission to ten years in prison and his wife to five, convicting the pair of money laundering and illegal acquisition of public funds.
The Commission of Integrity had detailed on Tuesday that the ruling against former taxation chief Osama Hussam Jawdat and his wife entailed "a fine of more than 32 billion dinars [around $25 million] … the confiscation of funds deposited in Turkish and Kuwaiti banks," and "the confiscation of 22 real estate properties in Baghdad and Turkey registered in the convict's name, along with their rental income and her gold jewelry."
Iraqi authorities also recovered roughly 19 billion Iraqi dinars (about $14.5 million) in a case involving embezzled funds from national carrier Iraqi Airways, Baghdad's judiciary announced Tuesday, and on Monday, large sums of state funds and several properties were seized in a case involving Deputy Oil Minister for Distribution Affairs Ali Maarij al-Bahadly.
Dujarric’s Wednesday remarks come only days after Titon Mitra, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative for Iraq, told Rudaw on Monday that international experts and Iraqi officials estimate 20 percent of the country’s public funds have been lost to corruption.
“Between $150 billion and $450 billion in assets may have been moved overseas or hidden within Iraq,” complicating recovery efforts, Mitra said.
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