Corruption In Iraq & World

China Detains Australian on Corruption (Bribery) Charges

Ooops, it seems an Australian executive of an Australian ore firm bribed workers at some Chinese State owned Steel firms to get inside information on pricing negotiations.  And, it appears he and three Chinese got caught.    Remember, Australia's Wheat Board was one of the early outfits  where they were found to have paid bribes to get Iraq's Saddam Hussein to accept sub-standard wheat.

When I arrived in Iraq in 2004, an Australian was actually the reigning Coalition Provisional Authority Sr. Advisor to the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry, and then news of the bribe hearings came out and he left, and no Australian replaced him, but an American did (I am not saying that the Australian was involved, but I think Australia was on the hot seat for awhile back then).   You see, Australia sold LOTS of wheat to Iraq for their free food "basket" program where a basket of food, including staples like wheat, were given out to every Iraqi.   Recently, the same Iraqi Ministry managing that program, the Trade Ministry, has been in the press where the Minister resigned and many staff were arrested on corruption charges.

In the US, we have the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that prohibits business officials from paying bribes in foreign countries, and US companies still periodically get caught by that law.  I don't know if a similar law exists in Australia.
vj

UK Serious Fraud Office Gets first Foreign Corruption Guilty Plea

About two years ago, the UK signed the UN's Convention on Corruption, which meant that the country's government agreed to help other countries prosecute local residents for corruption cases.  The UK was slow to do anything, thus here is the UK's first actual succesful prosecution of a firm over corruption related to Iraq's Oil for Food Program where many suppliers like the one below paid bribes to business, however in this case, it is for bribes in two other countries many years ago.

A problem is that the UK and London were notorious havens for many corrupt individuals from Iraq and other countries, and the UK authorities were not active in helping the harmed country prosecute the people who escaped to the UK with millions in corruption earnings.
vj

From Times Online

July 9, 2009

Iraq Grain Board head cleared of Corruption

Well, we actually have a situation where an Iraqi accused of corruption was investigated and released, and they explain why.  Read on and find out.   The justice system might be starting to work!
vj

Iraq Grain Board head cleared of corruption
Jul 07, 2009 at 16:38
 Source: Maktoob Business Online
By Khalid al-Ansary

* Iraqi officials ousted in corruption scandal An Iraqi court has cleared the former head of Iraq's Grain Board of corruption charges, and the state agency's grain tenders have not been jarred by a high-reaching corruption scandal, officials said. Trade Ministry spokesman Faraj al-Jaafari said the board, which buys millions of tonnes of grain a year, had weathered the storm that prompted the former trade minister to resign and highlighted widespread corruption inside the Iraqi government. "There are wheat and rice vessels arriving and there is no problem ... On the contrary, many contracts have been signed to import wheat from leading countries," Jaafari said.

The charges against senior officials in the Trade Ministry, which includes the Grain Board, over alleged kickbacks or fraud in food imports caused a stir across Iraq this spring. Some officials fled through the Trade Ministry's back entrance in April when government forces arrived to serve them warrants. The ministry's then-spokesman was hauled away. Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani has since resigned and was released on bail after he was arrested trying to leave the country. One of his brothers, a close aide, is under arrest and the other is on the run. Muthanna Jabbar, the former head of the Grain Board, was also charged. But he said he has since been cleared and has returned to work, although in a lower position. "The case was related to tea and lentils.

The Grain Board has nothing to do with tea tenders or anything but wheat, rice and barley," he told news agency Reuters. One of Jabbar's former deputies, Hassan Ibrahim, who headed the board's imports division, has taken over as head of the board on an acting basis. Jabbar said he will serve as a deputy director general. The ministry also includes another agency that purchases other foodstuff distributed as part of a massive food rations programme, the centrepiece of Iraq's social safety net. That agency's tenders for tea and sugar have been taken over by a committee set up by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Jabbar defended his disappearance following the issue of the arrest warrants in April, which led to a confusing period in which questions were raised about whether the board's grain tenders, closely watched by commodity markets, would continue.

 "What is a person to do when there is an arrest warrant issued against him? Should he show up at work just to get arrested?" Jabbar asked. On June 7, Jabbar went to a court in southern Iraq, where the case was located, to present documents and was cleared. "The judge asked me if I was a member of the board that purchased the tea. I said no," he said. It was not the first corruption scandal to hit the Grain Board or Trade Ministry, seen as particularly vulnerable to wrongdoing since they handle such frequent, large procurements. Sudany was not available for comment but his ministry has blamed disgruntled former officials for all allegations.

Al-Jazeera english channel starts Global Corruption report series

I don't have time right now to review this further, but the Arabic network Al-Jazeera has started a "Global Corruption" series of video reports on their english channel.  Here is a link to the third report in the series regarding corruption in China.  more later.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/06/200962845322109548.html

LA Times: Iraq Corruption Includes False Arrests to Extort Ransoms

This was an issue when I was in Iraq in 2004-2006.  However, at that time, the US Justice Dept. had 90 attorneys there, including several working at judicial reform.  They found out that it was common for Iraqi police to arrest someone, then hold them for days without arraignment in court until they paid a ransom to be released.  So the DoJ folks got a law changed so that anyone arrested had to be immediately transferred to a separate holding area and court arraignment within a very short time to eliminate the opportunity for the police to demand ransoms.  They even setup a separate transportation group to take arrestees to the courts because if the police took a person to the courts, they might stop and beat the person to confess or pay a bribe.  That system started to work, but then the US gave the Iraqis full control of the country in mid-2004 when Bush caved to demands of John Kerry in the 2004 elections, and when Paul Bremer left in June, 2004.  The new system became less and less enforced with the Iraqis ignoring many of the new laws implemented by Bremer during the Coalition Provisional Authority days.   In my opinion, we turned the country back to the Iraqi's much too early (after only about 18 months of "occupation") compared to being in Germany or Japan for more than 4 years to implement reforms.
vj

China Website to Report Corruption Crashes from Overwhelming Visit Counts

The BBC reports that the new China website to report corruption crashed due to high levels of visitors. See below.   This and a confidential corruption reporting hotline are two very powerful tools to provide the public, government workers and others a way to report suspected crime.  In 2004-2006, the Iraq anti-corruption agency Commission of Public Integrity, had a voice hotline as well as an email address to report corruption, as well as posters in many buildings and publicity to encourage the public to call or email suspected corruption.  They had to turn down small investigations because they received so many reports on corruption and bribery that it resulted in over 3,000 cases in the first year that were forwarded to the courts for prosecution.

We were able to open the website HERE, but there is no english version, so we can't tell you what it said.
vj

State Dept Seeking Anti-Corruption Expert for Iraq - possible $200k gross

State Dept Seeking Anti-Corruption Expert for Iraq - possible $200k gross - APPLY before July 2, 2009

This position, located in the US Embassy in Iraq for 12 months, has been in existence since probably 2006, and it is open, so check it out HERE (or at the URL below) if you have a background in anti-corruption.  The pay range is $102k +, but by the time you add the danger pay and location pay (35% each) and maybe overtime (not sure if they allow it now), your gross could be over $200k in 12 months.

I am working in Afghanistan, so not interested in applying for this.

The job posting expires July 2, 2009, so apply at least 1-2 days before, because there is a lot to fill out, including the online questions below.

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/getjob.aspx?JobID=81615455&aid=59233904-2369&WT.mc_n=125&rc=4&TabNum=1

And, here are pdf's of both the 14 page job announcement, and the questions you have to answer online if you apply.

Download State ac advisor iraq

Download State AC advisor questions

Reducing Bribe Opportunities in Afghanistan

AFghanistan has a terrible problem with unemployed farmers and men choosing to either work for opium producers to grow poppies, or to join the Taliban to eat.

So, an article in today's NY Times mentions the following issue being discussed by the new US Military commander in AFghanistan:

The key, of course, is creating other employment. Senior advisers to General McChrystal acknowledge that the increase in troop levels must be complemented by more civilian support for the Afghan government as it struggles to deliver economic opportunities, education, health care and a rule of law.

One key will be increasing the size and professionalism of Afghanistan’s security forces. Another will be assuring that farmers who agree to cultivate legitimate crops will be protected from intimidation by narcotics bosses, whose proceeds form a main base of financial support to the insurgency.

The military says it will also seek to form a social contract with farmers and small business leaders: If they choose legitimate crops and pay taxes, they will be guaranteed secure transportation routes to markets without the pressure of bribes at illegal checkpoints.

This illustrates that even the choice to produce goods is affected by corruption, if farmers are hit up for  bribes just to deliver their goods to markets.  Reducing opportunities for bribery demands is a good practice.
vj

Corruption in Iraq - Why it is so hard for Iraq's Parliament to Pass A/C legislation

There have been a series of articles about the resignation of the Iraq Trade Minister due to corruption charges, and I have been waiting to report on the issue.  But the following NY Times article is interesting because it gives a perspective on why it is so hard for the Iraq Parliament to pass ANY law, much less act on corruption legislation.   Even though the lead sentence talks about the lack of a comprehensive anticorruption law in Iraq, they barely mention corruption again, and have no specifics about any such law.   vj

We Need a Paladin or Jack Bauer to Clean Up Health Care Fraud - and Newt Agrees!

Our buddy Newt Gingrich is still alive and kicking.  Normally, I wouldn't give space to his political issues because that is not the focus of this blog, but here is an article I agree with.

Newt has increasingly been the champion for his version of health care reform, but here he discusses the use of a technique we often talk about - conditionality.   It is that if Congress decides to reform Health Care in any way, they should first meet a condition that they fix and drastically reduce fraud in health care claims.   I live in Florida, and the Miami area is always in the papers with millions and billions in health care fraud through fraudulent medicare claims, excess billings etc.   There is already a large stack of evidence and audit reports about this situation but they need a Jack Bauer, Gen. Patton or Palidin in there to clean up the crooks.

Where is Paladin (Have Calculator, Will Travel)  when we need him on his white horse (and, Patton had one too)?
vj