Outcomes of the Symposium of "Anti-Corruption: Legal Obstacles and Political Challenges"
Al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue RCD organized an interactive symposium entitled "Anti-Corruption: Legal Obstacles and Political Challenges", on RCD's Sérgio Vieira de Mello Hall in July 31m 2019, during which, Professor Jamal Al-Asadi, Inspector General of the Ministry of Interior, gave a lecture on how to address the phenomenon of administrative and financial corruption that is widespread in the country. Al-Asadi spoke about the most prominent legal and political obstacles and difficulties in combating corruption. In his speech, the lecturer addressed the nature of the oversight bodies operating in Iraq and the date of their establishment. In addition, Al-Asadi addressed the nature of corruption in Iraq in terms of its origins and sources, stressing that bribery is the most dangerous source of corruption as it leads to a loss of trust between citizens and the political system.
The symposium was attended by a group of religious leaders, academics, intellectuals and politicians in Najaf.
Below are the most important conclusions and recommendations of sumposium.
Conclusions:
1. There are three oversight bodies in Iraq, the Bureau of Financial Auditing, the Integrity Commission, and the offices of the inspectors general, some of which are pre-action oversight bodies as the offices of inspectors general, and some of the post-act oversight bodies as the Financial Supervision Bureau and the Integrity Commission.
2. The first oversight institution in Iraq was established in 1927. It is the Bureau of Financial Auditing, which monitors the state's public spending process, and its control is irregular as it examines a random sample of government financial transactions.
3. The Inspector General body emerged at the early eighties of the last century in the United States of America, and in Iraq, there was a department of the Inspector General in some ministries such as the Ministry of Health.
4. The Supreme Council for Combating Corruption is a coordinating council that brings together the three oversight bodies in addition to the head of the Judicial Oversight Authority and the Chief Public Prosecution for the purpose of unifying their efforts. There is a coordination between this Council and the Supreme Judicial Council in matters related to combating corruption.
5. The resources of corruption in Iraq can be divided into three. The first is the state's general budget in its investment aspect, the second is tax revenues from border crossings, and the third is bribery.
6. Corruption in the budget occurs only on the investment side, because the operating budget goes to debts and salaries and it occupies the largest part of the general budget by 80 percent, and the value of corruption in this type can reach $2 billion annually and can be controlled through transparency of government contracts.
7. The money that enters Iraq as imports (Incomes) is the most prominent manifestation of real corruption through border crossings. Corruption at border crossings is a widespread phenomenon in many countries, not only Iraq. Most of the import operations enter Iraq through the border crossings located in Basra, which amount to 80 percent of the total import process. The corruption of this aspect is evident in that only (2-3) billion of them enter the State Treasury, while the total goods entering Iraq range in value (50-60) billion dollars.
8. The proportion of goods entering from the border crossings in Kurdistan Region reaches 20 percent, most of which do not enter the state treasury. The percentage may reach 1.5 billion, i.e. the total waste of state resources reaches 50 percent of the resources that did not naturally enter the treasury of the federal government.
9. Bribery and its manifestations are the most prominent manifestation of corruption in Iraq. It constitutes the biggest challenge for the institutions responsible for fighting corruption, as well as its challenge to the development and progress processes.
10. The change in social values due to the deterioration of the living situation during the years of the economic embargo during the 1990s led to an increase in bribery rates among state employees. After looking at the bribe-taker with disapproval, the issue of bribery became a regular issue during the nineties and extended to the present time, so the large percentage of state employees have become addicted to bribery in its various forms.
Recommendations:
1. Anti-corruption methods must be so effective remedial methods, not temporary or limited, that have significant repercussions that create other problems that the country does not need. The treatment starts from the legislative side, i.e. reforming the legislative system.
2. The need to amend many laws and regulations such as resource ac, labor regulations, traffic laws, real estate laws and other laws and regulations, as there is a mixture of many different legislations, some of which contain flexible texts and others are static.
3. Addressing the legislative intersection between the texts that occurred due to the difference in legislative philosophy during the different periods, from the monarchy era to the orders of the coalition authority, especially since many of these laws are still in force until today.
4. The philosophy of dealing with corruption should be a preventive one, that is, it should be based on eliminating and drying up the wellsprings of corruption and not on fighting the corrupters through various penalties.
5. The necessity of adopting e-governance. This is done by introducing modernization to the primitive methods of work in state institutions, which are subject to the corruption of individuals and their moods.
6. The need to adopt a modern global banking system and leave the outdated banking systems in force in Iraq, so that institutions can combat financial corruption, which is the most prominent type of corruption in Iraq.
7. The operating budget should be represented in salaries for work and not just for time; That is, the efficiency of individuals must be raised by making their salaries for the work they perform and not only for the time they spend.
