Iraq’s Interior Ministry vows to stop corruption

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Iraq’s Interior Ministry vows to stop corruption
By Jimmy Norrism, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, October 13, 2008

BAGHDAD — Officials from Iraq’s Interior Ministry pledged Sunday to fight corruption and graft within the ministry, while at the same time laying much of the responsibility for the illegal behavior of some officials on the country’s citizens.

Adnon Al-Assadi, the senior deputy minister of administration and finance, cited an incident in which 1,000 people paid $150 bribes in exchange for ministry jobs that were handed out in the form of orders with forged signatures.

He said those paying the bribes were as much at fault as those asking for them.

"The citizen is the one who is encouraging these individuals to take money from him," said Al-Assadi. He added that the situation could be corrected "once he stops giving bribes and (starts) reporting these incidents."

He encouraged citizens to report abuses by officials and said more than 20,000 ministry officials had been dismissed over the last two years for "bad behavior."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58099