Investigating leaders would threaten the political system, Sudani ally says

BAGHDAD — Investigating senior political leaders for corruption could threaten Iraq’s political system, a member of former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s coalition said, arguing that prosecutors should work upward from junior officials instead.

“All political leaders involved in running the state support Mr. al-Zaidi’s anti-corruption campaign,” Ali al-Fatlawi of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition told Alawla TV. “If corruption investigations start from the top, that would threaten the political process as a whole. But if they begin from the bottom, a director-general will identify the deputy minister, the deputy minister will identify the minister, and the minister will identify those above him.” He said he favored starting low and working up, to “clean the stairs from the bottom.”

Fatlawi also said foreign governments had intervened to secure the release of Iraqi politicians accused of corruption because those politicians served their interests. He gave no evidence.

His remarks follow warrants issued for a minister who served in Sudani’s cabinet. A court has ordered the arrest of former Labor and Social Affairs Minister Ahmed al-Asadi under the illicit gains law and over alleged benefit from contracts he oversaw, according to documents released Sunday. Baghdad’s Karkh Court of Appeal has separately asked parliament to lift the immunity of lawmaker Nazem al-Asadi over contracts the ministry awarded to a company the court says he founded with Ahmed al-Asadi.

Security forces arrested Ahmed al-Jubouri, leader of the National Masses Party, in Baghdad on Saturday, the second Sunni bloc leader detained since June, after Azm Alliance leader Muthanna al-Samarrai was held. Hashem al-Sudani, director general of the General Company for Automotive Services at the Trade Ministry, was arrested Sunday over an alleged corruption in a Defense Ministry contract, a source told the Iraqi News Agency.

Investigations have widened since the arrest of former Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili in May, covering government contracts, money laundering and misuse of public funds. Investigators have itemized recoveries of about 82 billion dinars and $131.6 million in cash along with hundreds of kilograms of gold.