KTFA:

Samson:  The Federal Court gives the green light to prosecute more than 20 deputies accused of corruption

26th May, 2021

The Federal Court’s recent decision to revoke the immunity of members of the House of Representatives granted the judiciary permission to prosecute more than twenty deputies accused of financial and administrative corruption, without referring to Parliament. She described this step as "part" of the reform process, after the government, through the Anti-Corruption Committee, managed to arrest a number of people accused of corruption

Yesterday morning, the Federal Court issued a clarification regarding the immunity of members of Parliament, and confirmed that they have no immunity except when an arrest warrant is issued for an unmarked felony

In a press release, she stated, "The court decided, by its decision 90 / federal / 2019, on 4/28/2021, to revoke previous court decisions regarding obtaining the approval of the House of Representatives in all crimes against which members of the House of Representatives are accused, whether they are felonies, misdemeanors, or offenses. She added, "We decided to limit obtaining the approval of the House of Representatives in only one case, which is the issuance of an arrest warrant for a crime of the type not witnessed felonies, except for the immunity of the members of the House of Representatives."And the Federal Court continued: "It is possible to take legal measures against them directly in the event that any of them is accused of a felony, misdemeanor or contravention

Bahar Mahmoud, a member of the Parliamentary Legal Committee, says that "the decisions of the Federal Court are categorical and binding on all authorities, and cannot be neglected," calling for "the abolition of immunity for all three presidencies, just like the members of Parliament. She believes that "the immunity that existed means inequality among the Iraqi people before the judiciary," noting that "immunity should not be aimed at protecting the corrupt and thieves, and it grants MPs or anyone the right to practice corruption

In the past, hundreds of arrest warrants were issued against a large number of deputies. The Supreme Judicial Council demanded several times that the Presidency of the Council of Representatives lift the immunity of MPs accused of stealing public funds. A member of the Parliamentary Legal Committee added, "There are a large number of members of Parliament who have submitted requests to lift immunity, but they resorted to candidacy for elections in order to obtain immunity and to evade legal accountability and protection in an unreasonable manner

Article 63 / Second of the Federal Constitution regulates the granting of legal immunity and lifting it from the representative. Paragraph (b) prohibits the arrest of a member during the period of the legislative term unless he is accused of a felony and with the approval of the majority of members. Immunity with the approval of the Speaker of Parliament. Mahmoud stresses that "the number of MPs who will be prosecuted after the decision to revoke immunity is large and that the court's decision came into effect after its announcement." Accused of participating

For his part, Tariq Harb, a legal expert, explains that “Article 63 of the constitution talks about arrest, and therefore immunity is limited to arrest for a flagrant felony (the crime punishable by more than five years),” stressing that “this immunity exists in The constitution is restricted and not absolute

Members of the Iraqi parliament enjoyed absolute immunity from all crimes and charges against them, and no judicial or security body has the right to arrest or hold them accountable except after the parliament votes to lift their immunity. He adds that the Federal Court’s decision “revoked immunity and previous cases that were considered immunity and said it was wrong and incorrect,” adding that “most cases of financial corruption are in accordance with Articles (331) and (341) of the Penal Code. Any deputy accused of these two articles

The specialist in legal affairs adds that "many cases under which the arrest of deputies will be issued (...). Twenty deputies may be arrested based on requests to lift immunity that the Supreme Judicial Council sent to Parliament," indicating that "their cases are varied and different from Person to person

The Supreme Judicial Council had requested, in a previous statement issued by its media office, to lift the immunity of (21) deputies accused of administrative corruption during their tenure in executive positions. Harb added, "The immunity has ended for those MPs who were previously asked to lift their immunity, and therefore legal measures are supposed to be taken against them  LINK

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Samson:  The documents ... the arrest warrant for the arrest and charge of the commander of the Mobilization Operations in Anbar

05/26/2021 13:06:50

 A security force carried out a judicial order to arrest the commander of the Anbar operations of the Mobilization Forces, Qassem Musleh, in a security operation in Baghdad.

According to the arrest and investigation warrant, the Euphrates News Agency obtained a copy of it, as the type of crime and the legal article assigned to it issued against Musleh is "Article Four of the Anti-Terrorism Law."

Mosleh is considered one of the prominent leaders in the popular crowd.  LINK

Samson:  A deputy calls for the parliament to withdraw confidence from 4 ministers and the governor of the Central Bank

15:40 - 05/26/2021

Representative Manar Abdul Muttalib called, on Wednesday, the House of Representatives to question 4 ministers in Mustafa Al-Kazemi's government, and to withdraw confidence from them.

"The ministers of finance, industry, electricity, interior and the central bank governor must withdraw confidence from them, as a result of their negligence in the tasks assigned to them," Abdul-Muttalib said in a statement to the agency.

She added, "The Minister of Interior in his capacity is responsible for security in the country, as well as the Minister of Finance as he is responsible for raising the dollar exchange rate and increasing poverty and unemployment, as well as the governor of the Central Bank in addition to the accountability of the Minister of Electricity and Industry."

And considered that "the electricity and industry of the ministries of the most waste of public money over the past years." And Abdul-Muttalib stressed, "The need for the parliament to take its real role in holding the official accountable, regardless of his job grade."   LINK

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Samson:  Representative law explains the reason for the Federal Court’s decision to lift immunity

26th May, 2021

 The Parliamentary Legal Committee explained the reason for the Federal Supreme Court's decision regarding lifting the immunity of members of Parliament.

Bahar Mahmoud said in a statement that the Euphrates News Agency received a copy of, that "the interpretation of the Federal Court regarding the immunity of the representative came because some deputies exploited their immunity to commit corruption crimes." She added, "Article 63 of the constitution is clear like the sun and does not need any explanation, as it is understood that it is not possible to arrest a member of parliament except after the approval of the parliament by an absolute majority or the approval of the president during the legislative recess except in the case of a flagrant felony, in this case it is permissible to arrest him without need." Until the approval of Parliament or its president, but the interpretation of the

Federal Court says the opposite! 

She added: We are against the immunity peek for any class of both society members of parliament or ministers or presidencies because immunity in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, which provides for the equality of citizens before the law, and that there are some members of parliament took advantage of immunity to conduct crimes, especially corruption." Showed Mahmoud, "On the other hand, when interpreting any article, we must refer to the philosophy or wisdom of legislating this article. The wisdom of Article 63 of the Constitution is to facilitate the task of parliament members to carry out their legislative and oversight role and not to facilitate and legitimize the commission of crimes and hide behind them. Therefore, we criticize the exploitation of the privilege of immunity by some members." Parliament to commit corruption crimes."

The Federal Supreme Court decided yesterday to abstain from previous court decisions regarding obtaining the approval of the House of Representatives in all crimes for which members of Parliament are accused, whether crimes are felonies, misdemeanors, or offenses. A crime of the type of felony that is not witnessed, except for the impunity of the members of Parliament, and legal measures can be taken against them directly in the event that any of them is charged with a felony, misdemeanor, or contravention. The court also decided to revoke the previous court’s decision regarding the interpretation of the concept of an absolute majority, as the court decided that the concept of an absolute majority wherever it appears in the constitution is intended to be more than half the actual number of members of the House of Representatives, and what is meant by a simple majority is more than half of the number of members of Parliament present After a quorum is achieved." She pointed out that "with this decision, courts can settle corruption cases faster than before, because most corruption crimes apply to the description of misdemeanor crimes, and resolving them depends on lifting the immunity of the accused person, if he is a member of Parliament."  LINK

Samson:  To Defeat Corruption, Iraq needs E-Government

25th May, 2021 by Michael Rubin

It has now been more than a year since Mustafa Al-Kadhimi assumed Iraq’s premiership. His rise followed nationwide protests as young Iraqis, incensed by corruption at all levels of state, took to the streets to protest.

The youth are a force with which Iraqi leaders must reckon: almost half the country is under 20 years old. They cannot compare their plight to life under Saddam Hussein; rather, they contrast Iraq’s current dysfunction with other oil-rich Arab states whose standard of living, security, and opportunity are greater.

Kadhimi’s mandate was as a transitional leader to undertake difficult economic and electoral reforms, but he has little to show for his efforts. True, Kadhimi was dealt an unfair hand: not only had Adil Abd Al-Mahdi drained the treasury by dispensing civil service jobs as patronage with little consideration of fiscal prudence, but he also had to manage a crash in the price of oil and the COVID-19 pandemic. While Kadhimi made payroll, Iraqis largely assess his administration as an opportunity lost: Kadhimi deferred too much to the traditional powerbrokers whose support he sought as he considered his own ambitions, and failed to seize momentum for substantive reform.

While many diplomats and some Iraqis hope the October 2021 elections might usher in a government capable of tackling systematic corruption, a more realistic assessment throws cold water on such hopes. Established parties will likely continue to dominate Iraqi politics. Whether Sunni or Shia, Arab or Kurd, none has incentive to change a system from which they have so handsomely profited.

Elections are still important but if Kadhimi is committed to reform and wants to cement a legacy that constrains the opportunity of politicians to treat ministries and government services as petty and profitable fiefdoms, he should follow the lead of other countries and embrace E-Government. Despite some efforts to bring basic government services online, the United Nations ranks Iraq in the bottom half of all countries, below Burundi—the world’s poorest country in terms of  per capita income—and not much better than Yemen and Somalia.

In the 1970s, Iraq was the least corrupt Arab state until Saddam’s wars of aggression against first Iran and then Kuwait brought not only military defeat, but also suffocating sanctions. The economic distortion, black market economy, and the United Nation’s own corruption made matters worse. After the United States invaded in 2003, it made matters worse by pouring money into an economy that did not have the institutional capacity to handle it. In 2004, Iraq ranked 129 out of 146 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index alongside Kenya and Pakistan. Rather than improve its ratings, its ranking fell below that of the Saddam era. Today, Iraq remains one of the world’s most corrupt countries, well below its former comparative countries and not much better than Congo and Haiti.

Contrast that with Rwanda, a country that hit rock bottom in 1994 after civil war and the anti-Tutsi genocide. It debuted on the Transparency International list in 2005 on par with Lebanon and Iran. Its leadership prioritized anti-corruption in a way Iraq never has. But what really solidified Rwandan anti-corruption efforts was the launch of iRembo, a tri-lingual digital portal for government services.

In 2015, the government launched the website as a payment gateway for five different government services. By 2019, there were close to 100 services available on the platform and Rwandans and tourists alike could utilize either Rwandan francs or U.S. dollars. The webpage handles everything from payment of traffic camera tickets to passport applications to business permits to land transfers, and drains the opportunity for petty corruption.

When I recently had to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test in the Rwandan capital Kigali, I had to sign up and pay $50 for my test ahead of time. When I arrived at the clinic, they had only to see the receipt for my electronic payment that had gone directly into the government’s account; no one at the local lab nor any administrator along the way had any opportunity to collect let alone divert the cash, even if they were so inclined.

Nor is Rwanda unique. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, some of its newly independent constituent countries descended into cesspits of corruption, but others largely escaped. Estonia, for example, puts 99 percent of its government services online and is among the world’s least corrupt countries. Lower e-participation values, whether in Ukraine, Belarus, or Tajikistan, coincide with higher corruption.

On May 1, 2021, the Trade Bank of Iraq launched its mobile money app. While there have been some technical glitches, the concept has caught on. Rasheed Bank has plastered advertisements for their phone app on billboards across Baghdad. It even seeks to go one further than the Trade Bank of Iraq by allowing customers to apply for loans online. Companies like the food delivery service Lezzoo show that Iraqis are ahead of the government on digital technology.

Last year, the Iraqi government released videos to help guide Iraqis through government processes, but these ultimately do little to encourage good governance. Rather, they are like putting up a street sign while neglecting to pave the road. In Iraqi Kurdistan, for example, businessmen complain of forced payments to environmental regulatory bodies and other government departments who use money either for party purposes or to expend on their own offices but not on their stated purposes. Almost one-third of Iraqi households report paying a bribe for public services, and a similar number suggests that the police are corrupt.

E-payment services and a one-stop portal for all government services would eliminate such problems overnight. Corrupt police might prey on citizens, but cannot profit easily if citizens had to pay electronically. While Iraq has one of the most cellular phone-networked populations, only half of Iraqis use the internet. This does not necessarily mean that non-networked Iraqis will be excluded from government e-services. In Rwanda, for example, even rural villages staff iRembo offices where walk-in customers can receive help to access the platform.

Simply put, all administrations from Ayad Allawi’s appointed premiership post-Coalition Provisional Authority to Kadhimi’s transitional administration today have promised to tackle corruption, but none has effectively done so. It would take a relatively small investment on the part of the Kadhimi administration, however, to shift government services to a portal and ensure that fees for all government services, taxes, or fines go directly into the Iraqi government’s account. Inaugurating a portal for all Iraqis would be the type of visible progress Iraqis crave.

Certainly, this would not prevent top-level corruption by Iraqi politicians collecting kickbacks on contracts or utilizing their positions for financial or business gain; that will take televised trials to bring public shame, ridicule, and punishment to those participating in such schemes. It would, however, dry up almost overnight opportunities for corruption at a local level.

This in turn would enable, over the following decade or two, for a new generation of Iraqis to return to the 1970s-era, pre-Saddam cultural attitudes which viewed participation in corruption with contempt. Iraqi politicians are not going to reform themselves; it is time to utilize technology not only to bypass their inaction, but also to allow Iraq to leapfrog ahead of most states in the region in terms of clean government and business environment.   LINK