Wasit Governor Ali Hassan Salimoun
Wasit governor alleges predecessors diverted billions from development
WASIT — Wasit Governor Ali Hassan Salimoun said his administration has launched an oversight campaign against corruption in the governorate, referring cases of alleged financial violations to Iraq’s federal Commission of Integrity and the judiciary.
Speaking on the state-run Al-Iraqiya program Nuqtat al-Shorou, Salimoun said the new provincial administration had taken office focused on improving public services and distributing them fairly after what he described as years of unprofessional management. He said authorities had identified a construction project worth 37 billion dinars (about $28 million at the official rate) that developed structural subsidence just seven months after completion, alleging the damage resulted from manipulated technical specifications and inadequate oversight.
Salimoun said Wasit received more than 1.284 trillion dinars (about $973 million) in government allocations over the past four years, plus 100 billion dinars (about $75.8 million) from petrodollar revenues and border-crossing allocations. He alleged the funds were directed toward electoral and partisan interests rather than strategic development, and that many projects had already begun to deteriorate. He also said audit committees had flagged a legal violation involving 85 billion dinars (about $64.4 million) allocated to specific companies without Finance Ministry approval, a case since referred to the Commission of Integrity.
Salimoun said his administration was ending the era of “dark rooms,” referring to alleged control of administrative decisions by department heads linked to influential political groups. He said the provincial government is restructuring its projects sector around younger engineering staff and personnel not subject to corruption allegations.
The remarks come amid a wider national anti-corruption drive. Iraqi investigators recovered another 25 billion dinars (about $18.9 million at the official rate), $200,000 and 4 kilograms of gold jewelry on Thursday in the case against detained Deputy Oil Minister for Refining Affairs Adnan al-Jumaili, the judiciary said. It was the latest in a series of seizures linked to Jumaili, who was dismissed in late May and arrested in Salah al-Din governorate over alleged commissions and misuse of public funds through oil refining contracts. Jumaili previously headed the state-owned North Oil Company and North Refineries Company.
On Monday, the Nineveh Integrity Investigation Court ordered the seizure of nine commercial properties, three flour mills and seven transport trucks in Mosul, valued at an estimated 69 billion dinars (about $52 million), that the Supreme Judicial Council said had been registered in the names of the suspects’ workers to conceal their origin. The court appointed judicial custodians to keep the still-operating assets running while proceedings continue.
A wider operation announced June 28 led to the detention of dozens of current and former officials, political figures and businesspeople; state media reported that more than 15 names disclosed at the time were part of a group of 47 suspects.