Deputy industry minister jailed 6 years for $350,000 bribe

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court has jailed the Industry Ministry’s deputy minister for administrative affairs for six years for taking a $350,000 bribe to cancel a state cement company’s contract with a private firm, the Federal Commission of Integrity said Thursday.

The Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court convicted Nasser Kadhim Jabr of receiving the money in exchange for scrapping a partnership contract between the state-run General Company for Iraqi Cement and the firm, the commission said. It did not name the company.

The court also fined Jabr 10 million dinars (about $6,600 at the official rate) under Revolutionary Command Council Resolution No. 160 of 1983, as amended, a measure issued under Saddam Hussein’s government.

The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported on Oct. 13 that Jabr had been arrested after being caught taking a bribe. At the time, the agency gave no details of the amount or the investigation.

The commission did not say whether Jabr still holds his post or whether the verdict can be appealed.

The verdict is the latest in a wave of corruption cases against officials and lawmakers. The wave gathered pace after former Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili was arrested in May. State media cited his interrogation as the basis for the June 28 “Dawn Strike” raids inside Baghdad’s Green Zone and reported the arrest of 47 lawmakers and officials, a figure 964media could not verify.

On Sunday, the same court jailed former lawmaker Mohammed al-Sayhoud for one year for illicit enrichment. It ordered him to return about $1.6 million in illicit gains and to pay a fine of the same amount.

On Oct. 29, a court jailed Azm Alliance leader Muthanna al-Samarrai for six years for profiting from public contracts at two state refining companies and ordered him to repay 30 billion dinars (about $20 million at the official rate). Two days earlier, Hussein Talib, director general of the Oil Products Distribution Company, was sentenced to eight years over North Refineries contracts and ordered to repay 55 billion dinars (about $36 million).

Lawmakers Bahaa al-Nouri, Alia Nassif, Ashwaq Salim and Mohammed Farman al-Jubouri were each sentenced to seven years for illicit enrichment in September, as were former lawmaker Talal al-Zobaie and former Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadli in August. Their repayments and fines ranged from nearly 12 billion dinars (about $9 million at the time) for Salim to nearly 70 billion dinars (about $53 million at the time) for Zobaie.

In July, lawmaker Mohammed Nasser Dali al-Karbouli was jailed for two years for soliciting a $50,000 bribe.