Iraq
Hussein Allawi, security advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, in an interview with Rudaw on September 23, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s cabinet has taken numerous unprecedented strides to “dry up” the source of corruption in the country, his advisor said Saturday, with Iraq continuously ranking among the world’s most corrupt nations.
“A new way to combat corruption in the government of Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani is to retrieve the stolen funds and detain the culprits, because the previous administrations would detain the culprits and put them under control but the funds would disappear and not be returned to the state’s treasury,” Hussein Allawi, security advisor to Sudani, told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman.
Rampant corruption plagues all levels of the Iraqi state. Eliminating the phenomenon is among Sudani’s priorities. Official figures published last year estimated that well over $400 billion has gone missing from state coffers since former dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown in 2003.
Addressing the phenomenon, Allawi said that reforms enacted by Sudani’s cabinet, such as an e-government system and the expansion of electronic services, “will lead to financial reform that would dry up corruption inside the Iraqi state.”
In October, Sudani pledged that "we will not leave out anyone or any name or any party involved, regardless of who they are, and the parties involved will be announced after completing the investigation," referring to recovering embezzled money.
Iraq is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International, which ranked it 157 out of 180 nations in 2022.
“The decisions of previous governments allowed corrupt people to violate bureaucratic measures and issues such as the lack of an electronic system, and the government suffered from corruption as a result,” Allawi said, adding that such issues are being resolved.
Besides combatting corruption, other priorities set by Sudani’s cabinet include “creating employment opportunities, revitalizing public services, combating poverty,” as well as “implementing far-reaching reforms in both the economic and administrative spheres,” according to his speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Allawi reiterated the priorities, saying that the current Iraqi cabinet is looking to provide services to disadvantaged provinces, such as Muthanna, Diwaniyah, and Maysan.
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