Baghdad – INA
The Commission of Integrity announced on Saturday that it has prepared draft international memoranda of understanding for the recovery of funds and the extradition of suspects.
Abbas Mutab, Director General of the Recovery Department at the Integrity Commission and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Iraqi Funds Recovery Fund, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “Some countries are not cooperating on the issue of recovering funds from corrupt individuals for their own reasons, while others are cooperating in this regard.”
He explained that “the department has prepared a draft for signing memoranda of understanding with these countries for the recovery of funds and the extradition of suspects. We are following up with these countries and monitoring developments, but some countries’ domestic laws do not allow for certain actions requested by Iraq.”
He added that “Iraq is resorting to negotiations, and there are alternative mechanisms with countries to facilitate cooperation.” He pointed out that “many countries are not cooperating for various reasons, including economic and humanitarian ones. Sometimes, the corrupt individual is a refugee in those countries, which makes extradition difficult.”
The Iraqi government, headed by Ali Faleh al-Zaidi, had taken several measures to pursue those wanted in corruption cases and activate judicial procedures to recover stolen funds both inside and outside Iraq.
Earlier, the Federal Integrity Commission signed a cooperation agreement with the Interpol National Central Bureau in Baghdad, granting direct access to Interpol's information system. This agreement also aimed to encourage National Central Bureaus to expand their direct access to Interpol's system and information on wanted individuals to include agencies involved in conducting criminal investigations in cooperation with international police in various countries.
