Iraq anti-graft chief himself suspected of bribery

Iraqi judicial authorities declared on Wednesday that they were looking into the head of the nation’s anti-corruption agency in connection with purported audio recordings that were linked to possible bribery.

Judge Haider Hanoun’s anti-graft Commission of Integrity issued a statement in response, calling the recordings “fabricated” and decrying what it called lies and defamation. Iraqi public institutions are rife with corruption, and those in positions of authority frequently escape responsibility.

In Iraq, it is not uncommon for public leaders to exchange allegations in an attempt to settle scores.

A sound clip from a conversation that surfaced on social media and was picked up by media outlets seems to be from a discussion implying Hanoun had won substantial quantities of money, including a fancy automobile.

AFP was unable to verify the authenticity of the recording.

“The attorney general has asked an investigating judge to examine audio recordings attributed to the acting director of the Commission of Integrity, Haider Hanoun, in relation to bribery offences,” the judicial statement said.

A news conference to “expose the facts and deny these calumnies and inventions” was scheduled for Thursday, according to a statement released by the Commission of Integrity.

“Electronic armies” that had “fabricated sound extracts attributed to the head of the authority” were denounced, with the intention of “dissuading him” from his objective and impeding the commission’s work.

Hanoun charged a judge in early September of obtaining state land by pretending to be a security guard.

He made the charge during a contentious news conference in Kurdistan, an autonomous area of northern Iraq, while defending his personal ownership of two land parcels in the southern part of the nation.

In late August, an Iraqi criminal court issued arrest warrants for a businessman and a former government official wanted over their alleged involvement in stealing $2.5 billion of public funds.

The scandal has been dubbed the “heist of the century” in Iraq.