Iraqi Officials Arrested for Corruption06/29 06:12

   

   BAGHDAD (AP) -- Dozens of Iraqi political officials have been arrested on 
corruption charges, Iraq's state-run Iraqi News Agency reported Sunday.

   It said the arrests were based on a statement made by former Deputy Minister 
of Oil Adnan al-Jumaili, who was arrested last month, and "included members of 
Parliament whose immunity had been lifted."

   Iraqi security forces sealed off all entrances to the capital's heavily 
fortified Green Zone early Sunday and carried out raids inside the compound 
that houses key government institutions and foreign embassies.

   The state news agency later reported that 47 people had been arrested in the 
corruption probe, but it was not clear if all of them were detained Sunday or 
if some of them had been arrested earlier.

   It released the names of 15 arrestees, including 12 current lawmakers, one 
former legislator, a former adviser to former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia 
al-Sudani, and another high-ranking oil ministry official. Some of the arrested 
lawmakers came from al-Sudani's Shiite political bloc and others from the Azm 
Alliance, an influential Sunni party.

   The specific accusations against them were not immediately clear.

   Al-Sudani's bloc won the largest share of seats in November's parliamentary 
elections, but he ultimately stepped aside amid a deadlock in the Coordination 
Framework -- a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran that brought him to 
power -- over their preferred candidate for premier.

   Al-Sudani was replaced by Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman and political 
newcomer, who emerged as a consensus candidate and received the blessing of the 
United States.

   The arrests are likely to have ripple effects across Iraq's fractured 
political landscape, where accusations of corruption frequently intersect with 
rivalries over power and influence.

   Diaa Jaafar, the investigative judge of Iraq's central anti-corruption 
court, said in a statement that the investigation into al-Jumaili began in 
October "following the court's receipt of a number of reports alleging that 
several candidates had spent exorbitant sums of money to support their election 
campaigns, exploiting state resources and with the support of influential 
figures in the previous government."

   He said the investigation uncovered the involvement of a group of 
legislators in "exploiting state resources for electioneering and benefiting 
from government contracts, directly or indirectly, to obtain commissions and 
personal advantages for themselves and others."

   Jaafar said Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi lifted the immunity of the 
members of parliament implemented in the case and the arrest warrants against 
them were then executed.