Global Justice Project: Iraq

The Voice of Iraq reported on 3 September 2009 that:
“The Commission of Integrity (CoI) has arrested a top official from the Ministry of Transportation in the course of taking a bribe”, said officials close to the case. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give more details about the name of the official of the Ministry. All he said that the official was in the custody of the CoI to complete legal procedures and to refer him to the competent judicial authorities.
On the other hand, the Chairman of the Council of Representatives Integrity Committee, Sheik Sabah al-Saeedi, confirmed that the official was involved in that case and that he was the Deputy of the Ministry of Transportation. He was arrested in the act of taking a bribe of US$ 500 000 from a number of private security companies in charge of protecting Baghdad International Airport to renew their contract, after its expiry. Sheik Sabah confirmed that a security company had informed the competent Iraqi authorities about the official, who was later arrested in al-Karada district of Baghdad.”
Reuters carried a similar report naming Adnan al-Ubaidi, a Sunni Arab politician, who was appointed as deputy transport minister on August 10 2009.
UPDATE: On 21 December 2009 Reuters reported that Adnan al-Ubaidi was sentenced to 8 years in prison for this offence.