.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq's anti-corruption campaign is a long-awaited public demand geared toward achieving justice against those involved in squandering public funds and deterring future attempts, a senior member of Iraq's ruling party told Rudaw on Wednesday, predicting that "whales of corruption" would be held to account soon as well.
"Iraq needs genuine anti-corruption efforts because corruption was, and remains, the primary reason behind the decline in services, the weakness of state institutions, and the squandering of public funds,” said Ali al-Daffayi, spokesperson for the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq - a key component of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework.
He further praised the ongoing crackdown on corruption under Operation Dawn - a campaign launched by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Sunday - noting that the push "must be comprehensive, targeting all those involved in corruption without exemptions,” while underscoring the Coordination Framework’s support for the efforts.
Operation Dawn has so far netted tens of senior politicians and officials and tens of millions of dollars in stolen public funds, as well as the recovery of dozens of state properties since its debut.
Daffayi told Rudaw however that beyond recovering squandered assets, "this campaign is geared to achieve two fundamental factors: deterrence and justice," so that "this issue is not repeated in the future and it does not become easy for anyone tempted to steal public money."
Moreover, he pointed to those he described as "whales of corruption," predicting they "would not be immune to the anti-corruption measures," and stressing that "no figure is untouchable."
The remarks by Daffayi come a day after Iraqi authorities on Tuesday recovered roughly 19 billion Iraqi dinars (about $14.5 million) in a case involving embezzled funds from the national carrier Iraqi Airways, Baghdad's judiciary announced.
The investigative court in Baghdad's Rusafa district “recovered 19 billion Iraqi dinars on Tuesday,” Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council - the highest judicial authority for the country's ordinary court system - said in a statement, adding that “the sum was recovered as part of investigations into a financial corruption case involving tampering with deposit records of funds belonging to Iraqi Airways.”
A day earlier the Council said large sums of state funds and several properties were seized in a case involving the deputy minister of oil for distribution affairs, Ali Maarij al-Bahadly, who was sanctioned by the United States in May.
Munir Haddad, a prominent Iraqi judge and legal advisor to Prime Minister Zaidi, told Rudaw on Monday that "neither the judiciary nor the government will stop at recovering the stolen funds," emphasizing that the Baghdad government remains "committed to fighting corruption and holding the corrupt to account."
“No one will be spared, regardless of their position or status,” Haddad stressed.
