Fake contracts worth $164 million rock Baghdad municipality
The discovery of two fake contracts in which Baghdad municipality officials were involved have shed new light on the extent of corruption in the country.
The municipality has revealed that two of its senior officials were involving in doctoring two $164 million contracts for the construction of sports stadiums in Baghdad with an alleged Turkish contractor.
Baghdad’s mayor, Saber al-Isawi, said the documents he seized revealed that the two officials – Waleed Adrees and Mohammed Saheb – would have reaped millions of dollars in kickbacks.
The mayor said the seizure of the documents led to the revelation of an extensive “network of corruption”.
He said many people, including foreigners, were involved in the “network.”
But he only revealed the names of the two officials working in Baghdad municipality.
The two officials, he said, were referred to the judicial authorities for trial.
The forged documents, if not discovered, would have cost the municipality $164 million, the value of the two contracts.
Several commissions looking into corruption in Iraq have revealed fake contracts worth billions of dollars for reconstruction projects. The money has gone but there is no trace of the projects on the ground.
Isawi did not say whether this was the first instance of fraud in the municipality.
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