Press Statement
Chaos and Corruption as Never Seen in the History of Iraq Before
(Translated)

On Sunday, February 3, 2019, MP Ahmed al-Jubouri presented a document showing the disbursement of an estimated amount of more than 408 billion Dinars to the city of Mosul, since its liberation from the grip of ISIS, asking, where was it spent? “How was this amount spent? And what are the completed projects?” (Alsumaria News). Al-Arabiya.net also revealed - earlier – from a well-informed source, the movement of the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to restore tens of billions of dollars through by opening  more than 13 thousand files of corruption.

It is noteworthy that Hassan al-Yasiri, the former head of the Integrity Commission, had revealed the interrogation of 48 ministers within three years on charges of corruption cases, pointing out that no action was taken against those referred to the judiciary because the judiciary were not convinced of the evidences of conviction! Al-Yasiri, who resigned earlier this year, complained that there were difficulties in obtaining evidence convincing the Iraqi judiciary to condemn the defendants, pointing to the weakness of the legal structure of corruption crimes. He called for tougher penalties and death sentences for those who extend their hands to public money.

Despite the conflicting figures on the size of financial corruption, they all agreed that the thefts that affected the budgets of the country, since 2003 to date, exceeded one billion dollars. A report issued by the World Center for Development Studies, based in London, revealed the disappearance of 120 billion Dollars of surpluses of Iraq's financial budgets only during the period of Nuri al-Maliki's premiership! The report pointed out that Iraq has achieved large financial surpluses during the period between 2006 – 2014, that could have contributed to its reconstruction and transformation into a modern state, where the total budget during the period mentioned (700 billion dollars) went to the pockets of the corrupt, and the government is accused with standing behind this corruption, because in recent years, Iraq has ranked first among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Therefore, the files of corruption revealed by politicians, and covered by international reports, have kept the fuse of the street burn in rage due to poverty, unemployment, poor services, lack of infrastructure and deliberate neglect, despite the extreme budgets of previous years as confirmed by the ongoing protests, erupting from time to time in Baghdad and various provinces.

The policy of the colonial Kaffir and its agents who it appointed to govern Iraq created chaos everywhere in the country, a chaos that has never been witnessed in the history of Iraq for hundreds of years: chaos in the government and its performance, chaos and scandals in the parliament and its members, and chaos in all ministries and departments that parties control by sectarian, partisan, and doctrinal distribution, by the miserable quotas. There is no authority or regime in Iraq at all. What we mean by chaos here is the “financial and administrative corruption” which has become daily scandals.

Thus, those governments that took turns in the management of the country with these cancerous characteristics represent – to the occupier - a political mechanism, to govern the country indirectly, after failing to rule through the civil governor Paul Bremer due to the outbreak of the Iraqi resistance. They are, therefore, occupation governments that have come to serve the occupier and carry out its treacherous schemes, while neglecting the interests of the Iraqi people and killing their legitimate aspirations.

Injustice and corruption are not limited to Iraq, nor are they new to the ruling regimes of the Muslim countries, but practicing them in this ugly way means that a great disaster has befallen our Ummah. The scale of corruption and thefts is sufficient to demonstrate the gendarmerie to which the conditions of our country have descended. Crime and corruption are committed carelessly and openly, with a broad smile on the faces of its perpetrators! There are also those who defend them and justify their acts, which means that corruption and injustice have reached a point that they cannot be hidden any longer, and there is no need - originally - to hide them, as being boastful over committing them - with the ability to escape punishment – is a pride of the perpetrators and evidence of their stature and status, and became a public approach, and a pervasive phenomenon in the ruling class and those in its orbit.

Indeed, this is a great evil that Allah forbids, and it is necessary to work to change it with all seriousness and all sincerity and all awareness as soon as possible and with maximum energy. The Islamic nations - in Iraq and elsewhere - are fully aware that their wealth has been looted, and that it is the result of conspiring Muslim rulers to strip the authority of the Ummah and that the salvation of all of this can only occur by ruling by the laws of Allah, removing the unjust rulers, expelling the colonial infidel, stripping the capitalist system of its foundation, and ruling by the laws of Allah )swt) in all aspects of life, in a Khilafah Rashidah State (rightly guided Caliphate) which will be the guardian of money and not a stockist. Public property funds are a right of all Muslims who are citizens of the state, and not the property of rulers fighting over looting them. It is noteworthy - in this regard - that Ali may Allah be pleased with him did not leave anything in Baytul-Mal (State Treasury) for more than a year.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Iraq