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| Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani. (Source: AP) |
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani made the warning at a meeting he chaired on August 9 on tracking down suspects and criminals in corruption cases as well as the money they have embezzled.
He called on relevant government agencies to leverage diplomatic and economic relationships to help track down smuggled money and corrupt individuals on the run.
Iraq is one of the oil-rich countries, with many other natural resources such as gas, sulfur, dates... However, the socio-economic situation is often in a state of crisis, people's lives are extremely difficult.
Rampant corruption over the years has caused a significant deficit in the state budget and remains a major problem in the country.
According to documents from Iraq's tax authority, 3.7 trillion dinars are said to have been withdrawn between September 2021 and August 2022.
In 2021, former President Barham Salih estimated that Iraq had lost $150 billion to corruption since 2003.
In 2019, tens of thousands of Iraqis held massive protests for months, demanding comprehensive government reforms to combat widespread corruption.
The UN Special Representative for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, has described corruption in the country as “pervasive, structural and systemic”.
According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published annually by Transparency International (TI), Iraq scored 23/100 points, ranking 157/180 countries and territories in the world in 2022.
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