Iraq calls to adhere to UN Convention provisions against Corruption

INA – BAGHDAD
 
Represented by the Federal Integrity Commission, Iraq called on the international community to adhere to the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
 
The head of the Federal Integrity Commission, Alaa Jawad Al-Saadi, confirmed on Wednesday, Iraq's support for all initiatives emanating from these meetings seeking to facilitate the task of states to recover their looted funds.
 
This came during his intervention in the meetings of the working groups within the framework of the United Nations Convention against Corruption that was held in Vienna, conveyed by the media office of the Commission in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
 
Al-Saadi pointed out "the great difficulties facing the efforts of the national monitoring bodies in the Republic of Iraq in the file of recovering the proceeds of corruption that the corrupt succeed in smuggling outside the borders,"
 
"Iraq, represented by the Federal Integrity Commission in the United Nations Convention against Corruption, supports the efforts, initiatives and agreements that contribute to its empowerment of getting the money back,” he added.
 
He highlighted "the need to announce the necessity of obligating the member states of the convention with its decisions and clauses that necessitated cooperation between member states in aid and overcoming the difficulties facing efforts to recover money, assets and those convicted of corruption crimes,"
 
"Therefore, we find ourselves today in front of an obligation that requires us to urgently taking serious and real steps that give hope for the success of these meetings by preparing the appropriate steps and procedures to recover the looted funds,” he noted.

The head of the Federal Integrity Commission included that "Iraq and other countries suffer from some countries' embrace to corruption, so that they have become a stable haven for it. The laws of those countries have become legitimate protection for them and those convicted of stealing, as it represents a protective wall that prevents enabling the local regulatory and judicial authorities, and prevents them from being able to implement the provisions of the International Convention against Corruption, as well as undermining international efforts to curb corruption and reduce its pathways at the international and local levels,”
 
"The obstacles stand in the way of the efforts success of the national regulatory and judicial bodies, such as dual nationality, the difficulty of proving the link between assets, smuggled funds and the crime that results from those committed assets, and the integration of those funds into the economies of those countries,” Al-Saadi revealed.
 
He expressed his hope that these obstacles would be overcome and would not prevent the success of these efforts, especially the issue of dual nationality, which some corrupt resort to by making investments in those incubating countries.