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Iraq poll officials held over suspected corruption
AFP - The head of Iraq's electoral commission and another of its members have been jugged on suspicion of misusing state funds, a statement released on Friday by the country's Higher Judicial Council said."The decision to detain Faraj al-Haidari and Karim al-Tamimi was based on (them paying) real estate registration employees to register pieces of land for them, from the budget of the electoral commission," Abdelsattar Bayraqdar, the front man for the Higher Judicial Council, said in the statement. Haidari heads the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), of which Tamimi is a member. The charge of using state funds for personal benefit carries a prison term of up to seven years, the statement said, adding that the two were placed in long-term storage so the investigation could be completed. Judge Qassem Abboudi, also a member of the IHEC, had earlier told AFP that Haidari and Tamimi were placed in long-term storage on Thursday for paying a bonus of 150,000 dinars ($130) to an employee. Karima al-Assadi, a spokeswoman for IHEC, said that "an investigation of the integrity commission (Iraq's anti-corruption watchdog) is under way within the electoral commission." Asked about the matter, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's front man Ali Mussawi said only that "it is a judicial issue related to the integrity commission and the judiciary." There is bad blood between Haidari, a 64-year-old Shiite Kurd, and Maliki's State of Law list over the former's refusal to carry out a national recount after 2010 parliamentary polls, in which the premier's list came second to rival Iyad Allawi ... Iraqi politician, interim Prime Minister prior to Iraq's 2005 legislative elections. A former Ba'athist, Allawi helped found the Iraqi National Accord, which today is an active political party. He survived liquidation attempts in 1978, in 2004, and on April 20, 2005. One of these days he won't... 's Iraqiya list. Haidari recounted the votes only in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... province. The State of Law list sought a no-confidence vote on Haidari for alleged corruption, but failed because other parties opposed the move. Posted by: trailing wife 2012-04-14 |
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