Al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue RCD organized a seminar entitled "Inspectors General: Political Challenges and Legal Obstacles", which focused on the challenges facing the work of the offices of inspectors general in Iraqi ministries, which can be classified as legal obstacles and political obstacles. The problem of legal cover for the work of those offices and the need to find appropriate legislation to cover their work were discussed, in line with other oversight bodies, such as the National Integrity Commission and the Financial Supervisory Office. The lecturers also referred to the integration that existed between those three regulatory bodies. For example, the outcomes of the Financial Supervisory Office are outcomes to the offices of inspectors general, and the outcomes of the inspectors' offices are outcomes to the National Integrity Commission.

The lecturers emphasized the advantage enjoyed by the offices of inspectors general from other oversight bodies as well, which is the advantage of daily and direct friction with the state executive bodies, making them the closest and fastest in diagnosing cases of corruption. The lecturers explained that calls for the dissolution of inspectors' offices were made either out of ignorance of the work and achievements of the offices, or of some beneficiaries of corruption, for whom the presence of inspectors' offices was an obstacle.

Below are the most important conclusions and recommendations of the seminar:

Conclusions:

1-       The offices of inspectors general from international trials; and even in Iraq before 2003, there was experience of inspectors general in some ministries, as well as in the ministries of health, finance and interior.

2-      The offices of public inspectors play an important role in the fight against corruption, as they are the only regulatory body that is in direct and daily contact with the state's executive bodies.

3-      The outcome of the offices of inspectors general is important as input to the National Integrity Commission, used by the latter as a database to begin its work in the fight against corruption. The directory of the Financial Supervisory Office is one of the important inputs of the offices of the inspectors general, as the offices receive news and complaints from several ways, including the Integrity Commission, the hotline, e-mail and the resulting reports of the inspection and audit committees.

4-      The work of the inspectors general is not only to combat corruption, but also to evaluate, correct and guide administrative processes within the Ministry.

5-      The work of inspectors general within the ministry does not give them the power to intervene and investigate corruption outside the ministry, such as party economic committees and other manifestations.

6-       Calls by some politicians to cancel the offices of inspectors general are either issued by persons who are not familiar with the work of the offices, or are issued by persons who support corruption and consider the presence of offices to be a threat to them.

7-      There is a global ratio of the number of employees of oversight bodies in the proportion of government employees, as it is determined by (3) observers per (100) employees, and Iraq has not achieved this percentage, as it is about 1.1.

8-      The offices of inspectors general do not consume large budgets, as their budget is limited to the operational budget, such as salaries and others, and does not have investment budgets. The number of office staff in all ministries, except security ministries, does not exceed (1,800).

9-      The need to train, develop and update the abilities and capabilities of the staff of the inspectors' offices on an ongoing basis to keep up with developments.

10-   Giving ministers the power to approve reports submitted by the Inspector General limits the body's ability to fight corruption. In many cases, ministers do not approve reports, or ratification is circumvented through the grievance sought by the Ministry, not the Office of the Inspector General, and the failure of referral to the judiciary and judicial accountability through the central inclusion committees, which are subordinate to the Minister, whose recommendations are usually that there is no harm to public money, or may be referred to the legal services of the Ministry, for review.

11-   Inspectors general are under political pressure from some politicians and parliamentarians during their work, and the martyrdom of some and the injury of others demonstrate the seriousness of this body in the fight against widespread corruption in state departments.

12-   The Public Prosecution Act, which gives public prosecutors the power to investigate corruption cases, runs counter to the principle of separation of powers passed by the Constitution. Furthermore, the publicprosecution cannot impose administrative sanctions contained in the Law on The Discipline of State Officials, as the contexts of the administrative investigation differ from those of the judicial investigation.

13-   Transparency International relies on surveys of Iraqis living in the diaspora in Iraq's classification, which has refused to open an office in Baghdad.

Recommendations:

1-      The need to legislate a law on inspectors general, which determines their link, and gives them appropriate legislative cover to carry out their duties, because the absence of legislative cover limits the power of the oversight body in the anti-corruption process.

2-      The independence of the offices of inspectors general should be taken into account when a law is legislated on such offices, while providing legal protection and preventing their political targeting, in order for inspectors to be able to do their job better.

3-      The work of oversight bodies is complementary, and therefore none of these bodies can be dispensed with. The presence of these bodies is also linked to Iraq's international anti-corruption obligations.

4-       Those who are blackmailed or bribed by citizens must have the courage to report it, so that oversight bodies can perform their work in accordance with legal contexts. Without a complainant or physical evidence, these bodies cannot work.

5-      Attention to training courses for state employees, especially those of the Office of the Inspector General. Courses outside Iraq should also be taken into care, but they should be real, as the executive expertise of staff working in the offices of inspectors general must be possessed, and the absence of executive experience of the staff member would lead to a slow completion of his duties.

6-      Promoting a culture of society regarding respect for public money, as well as not resorting to nepotism when completing transactions in departments, or attempting to take advantage of the influence of officials in order to bypass the routine of completing transactions.

7-       Government officials should be careful about media reports about corruption, as this is one of the sources on which international organizations for classifying corruption, such as Transparency International, put Iraq too low in terms of ranking of designated countries.