Baghdad’s Lord-Mayor charged with corruption

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Integrity Commission on Tuesday uncovered the existence of financial corruption dossiers at the Commission, related to Baghdad’s Lord-Mayor, Saber al-Issawi, which would force him to resign. “The dossiers that were revised by the Integrity Commission, following its linking with the dossiers of the Arab Summit, that was scheduled to be held in Baghdad and the amounts spent to reconstruct the streets leading to Baghdad Airport and Baghdad’s 5-star hotels, had witnessed the allocation of 5 billion (b) and 250 million U.S. dollars,” Jawad al-Shuheily told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Saber Issawi will likely be sacked from his post, because the dossiers were complicated and Baghdad’s Lord-Mayor has surpassed his legal period of 5 years in his position,” he said. “The Baghdad Lord-Mayor shall be sent to the judiciary and all amounts that had been wasted shall be restored,” Shuheily said, adding that “the Lord-Mayor would be the first official to be accounted by the Integrity Commission and the Parliament, because he would be accounted for wasting the Public Funds.” Baghdad Lord-Mayor, Saber al-Issawi, had presented his resignation officially for Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, last March, but the Council of Ministers did not accept the resignation, leaving Issawi to hold his post since 2005. SKH (TI)/SR 565