Ex-governor of Wasit says Kut fire referral is ‘politicized’

WASIT — Former Wasit Governor Mohammed Jameel Al-Mayahy said Tuesday that his referral to the judiciary over the deadly Kut fire was politically driven, accusing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani of using the case to block his participation in upcoming elections.

The July blaze at a Kut shopping center killed 61 people, sparking protests and forcing Al-Mayahy’s resignation.

“I went to the judiciary 20 days ago, based on the recommendation of one of the investigative committees, and I do not know why the prime minister returned to announce my referral to the judiciary with the elections approaching,” Al-Mayahy told Al-Kut FM. “The case turned into a political case, and the prime minister in his first year was not as he is now.”

On Sunday, Al-Sudani approved the findings of an investigative committee into the July 16 fire at Kut’s Hypermarket, which recommended referring several officials—including Al-Mayahy—to the judiciary. The Prime Minister’s Office said the move reflected “the government’s keenness and serious efforts to protect the lives of all citizens, achieve justice, uncover corruption files, hold those who are negligent accountable, and inform public opinion of its procedures.”

Al-Mayahy said he provided investigators with documents showing fines and violations imposed by civil defense and municipal departments. He claimed a committee head told him the case was clear but was “waiting for what the prime minister would direct.”

“The prime minister believes in the principle ‘if you are not with me, then you are against me,’” he said, adding that budget allocations to Wasit had been cut. Al-Mayahy alleged the fire case was politicized to portray him as negligent. “Money was paid to make me appear negligent and then exclude me from the elections to control the governorate,” he said.

Excerpts from Al-Mayahy’s interview with Al-Kut FM:

I went to the judiciary 20 days ago, based on the recommendation of one of the investigative committees, and I do not know why the prime minister returned to announce my referral to the judiciary with the elections approaching, but the case turned into a political case, and the prime minister in his first year was not as he is now. After the incident, I submitted a request to be hosted in parliament, but the political forces rejected that on the pretext of not turning the incident into a political case.

I went to one of the investigative committees and presented to them all the documents I had regarding the violations and fines imposed by the municipal departments and civil defense on this building, and the head of the committee replied to me that he was completely convinced and that the case was clear, and that he was waiting for what the prime minister would direct. So is it reasonable for this committee to be professional if it is waiting for the prime minister’s directions regarding the outcomes of the investigation? After that, the prime minister’s office addressed the election commission to exclude me from candidacy because I am wanted by the judiciary.

The prime minister believes in the principle “if you are not with me, then you are against me,” and the second term does not come this way, and during his first year he was good, but afterwards he harmed us greatly, and the year 2024–2025 was a year of financial drought because he took our dues and allocations, the value of one overpass in Baghdad is equal to the budget of Wasit for four years, for our budget is 85 billion dinars for one year, and we only received 23% of it.

Our responsibility is to close places that violate safety conditions, based on civil defense reports, and on June 14, about a month before the incident, civil defense presented me with a list of 85 violating buildings, and we closed them all the next day, but this list was completely devoid of the hypermarket building that later caught fire. So is it reasonable for me to personally go and search for violating buildings one by one? But the case was politicized, and we were subjected to blatant extortion, and money was paid to make me appear negligent and then exclude me from the elections to control the governorate.

We bought a specialized mechanism for civil defense for more than one billion dinars, and it could have reduced the scale of the disaster, but it was sent to Syria without our knowledge, then I am asked why I did not equip civil defense with supplies? How can I equip a federal ministry that is responsible for equipping civil defense? I ask all citizens: if I had run with the prime minister’s list, would what happened to me have happened?

The sectoral bodies are responsible for accidents that occur daily throughout the country, and the governor is responsible for managing 10 general committees, each specialized in a certain aspect. A few days ago, a number of our soldiers were killed, so should the prime minister bear responsibility? But there were calculations to exclude me from the elections because the prime minister’s list will obtain more seats, while my list will take all the seats of Wasit, and perhaps I will complain to the Federal Supreme Court after the elections because the prime minister violated an explicit legal text regarding the distribution of financial allocations according to the population ratios of the governorates.

The prime minister met with us in a general meeting and wanted to send a message that he was concerned and sympathetic with the incident and personally following up on the investigation, but he asked me not to take some measures that we later took, and he told me what happened was fate and people would forget after a day or two, but the case was politically exploited.