Despite the adjournment of the Iraqi Parliament’s session to elect a new president since last week, and the ensuing uproar leading to complaints filed with the Federal Court, accusations of bribery among members of parliament continue to stir political and media circles.
A deputy appeared on a local television program, accusing the legislative body of being “a hub of corruption within the state.”
Following this, the Acting Speaker of Parliament, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, formed on Tuesday a parliamentary committee to investigate “suspicions of deputies receiving bribes in exchange for voting for a specific candidate” to succeed the former president, Mohammed Al-Halbousi.
According to a document signed by Al-Mandalawi, the committee, headed by the chairman of the Legal Committee, Rebwar Hadi Abdel Rahim, and comprising eight other deputies, is tasked with investigating financial offers made to council members for voting on a presidential candidate in the session held on January 13th.
The formation of the committee comes days after the Integrity Commission announced an investigation into allegations of bribery offers to deputies for voting in favor of a particular candidate for the presidency of the Iraqi Parliament.
The Commission stated in a press release that “the Office of Media and Government Communication confirmed the issuance of an official letter from the Investigation Department of the Commission, directed to the offices of deputies Majid Shingali, Ahmed Al-Jubouri, Raad Al-Dahlaki, Hussein Al-Sa’abri, and Ali Turki, to attend the headquarters of the Investigation Department to provide more information on their statements to some media outlets, as monitored by the Office of Media in the Commission.”
The accusations exchanged by the deputies during the lengthy voting session held on January 3rd quickly spilled into the media and became a matter of public concern, widely covered by various Iraqi and Arab media outlets.
Despite attempts by some deputies who had accused their colleagues of receiving money or “Tahoe” cars to retract their statements, the Media and Communications Authority reported no material evidence in their claims.
Deputies claimed they received offers from parliamentary employees and also saw “WhatsApp messages discussing the amounts of money required for payment.” According to these allegations, the amounts were around $100,000 for voting in favor of one of the candidates.
The Iraqi Parliament has been functioning without a president since October 15th, when the Supreme Federal Court ruled to end Al-Halbousi’s membership after considering a lawsuit accusing him of falsifying the resignation date of deputy Laith Al-Dulaimi.
