Crack-down on corruption rife in Iraq's oil industry

The Environment News Service reports that 450 employees have been sacked from the Iraqi Oil Ministry as part of a crack-down on corruption.

Iraqi oil ministry’s general inspector Ali Muhsin Ismael said that criminals used a number of methods to defraud the industry, including the manipulation of fuel pump gauges and incorrect measurement of tankers’ contents - both of which can result in an undeclared surplus that can then be sold on the black market.

In Basra, which is the site of Iraq’s southern oil fields, resident Hussein al-Sabti said that oil smuggling operations were now carried out in the open. "This has prompted the population of Basra to ask whether or not smuggling of petrol is a legitimate act," he said.

Abdul Kareem Li’aibi, the oil ministry’s fuel distribution project manager, said that the government had recently discovered that one of its southern pipelines was peppered with more than 20 illegal taps, allowing tankers to top up their loads at will.

But the government itself is also facing a struggle against corruption, according to Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, chairman of the Commission on Public Integrity.

"This waste of public finances is worrying government officials in Iraq," he said.

"It is difficult to combat corruption due to the absence of a strong mechanism to control all the institutions' civil servants, and due to a lack of support from law enforcement bodies," said Judge al-Radhi.

Oil ministry official Li’aibi is not sure whether actions such as this will put an end to graft. "I can’t recommend any civil servants or workers," he said. "Today they are honest but, after one month, they are engaging in corruption. I can’t even guarantee that I won’t be joining them."