US probes payoffs to Iraqi officials
 
WASHINGTON, 22 Feb. - (ANA) - Endemic Iraqi corruption has again hit the headlines this week as a probe is launched by the US justice department to determine whether American corporate payoffs to Iraqi officials with access to government contracts cost the US taxpayer billions.

The inquiry may also shed light on how American bribes to high-ranking and powerful Iraqi politicians could have opened the door for the rise of the Islamic State group by creating a "deep state" built on corrupt business deals with senior pro-Iran politicians.

With corruption still a significant problem in Iraq, there have been warnings that IS may take advantage of the situation as they did just before they took over a third of the country in 2014.

American diplomats in Iraq have even suggested that IS could be as powerful today as when they first burst onto the scene following a year of demonstrations against sectarian government policies.

It is now widely accepted that corruption, sectarianism and ultimately disproportionate levels of violence against largely peaceful Sunni Arab protesters allowed IS the opportunity they needed to wage their campaign. With these root problems still intact, there are fears that a cautiously patient IS will simply wait for the right opportunity to unravel the Iraqi state as they did almost five years ago.

In a report released on Tuesday, The Daily Beast revealed how US justice department officials had launched an investigation into American military contractors regarding their business deals in Iraq, and to see if these US companies played a role in facilitating bribes to corrupt Iraqi officials which may have cost the American taxpayer billions.

Crucially, the actions leading to Iraqi contracts being provided to Sallyport Global Services - one of the military contractors in question - to assist in the logistics, training, security and management of Iraqi military bases could have contributed to the rise of IS.

According to the investigation, Sallyport made a deal with a company called Afaq, registered in Kuwait. Afaq is controlled by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had been premier since 2006 up until his government collapsed in the face of IS' lightning advance that saw the militant group at Baghdad's gates in 2014.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Afaq would essentially control access to lucrative defence contracts in exchange for payoffs and kickbacks.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/22 February 2019 - - -