Iraqi deputy minister gets eight years for corruption

21 Dec, 2009

An Iraqi court has jailed a former deputy minister of transport for eight years after anti-corruption forces caught him taking a bribe, Iraq's Integrity Commission said on Sunday. Adnan al-Ubaidi, a Sunni Arab politician, was caught on camera in a sting in September taking the $100,000 bribe from a foreign security firm. He had been in the job only a few weeks.
"The Central Criminal Court ... sentenced the deputy minister of transportation to eight years in prison in a bribery case in which he was caught red-handed," the anti-graft agency said in a statement. Iraqis are increasingly frustrated by what they see as endemic government corruption, which they blame for the poor state of basic services such as water and electricity.

Read Comments