Maliki knows about figures behind corruption in armament deals, says MP

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, Sabah al-Saedi, accused the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, of being aware of the figures behind the corruption in the armament deals concluded with Russia but he hides them.

He stated to Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com) “Maliki admitted the corruption in this contract and he know the names of the corrupted figures who were among the delegation that accompanied him to Russia,” noting that “He is trying to cover some of them.”

He called to “Reveal the names of the corrupted figures in this deal.”

“About 300 million USD is the sum of corruption in this contract and the hidden amount is much more,” he concluded.

In a press conference held at the parliament on last Wednesday, he said “My name was mentioned in unusual planned way by some media outlets over the corruption accompanied the armament contracts concluded with Russia,” stressing that “This was done by sides who exerted huge efforts to defame the others.”

“It becomes dangerous to keep silent towards such issue so I deny these accusations firmly and assure that I was the first who notify the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, over the possibility of corruption to accompany this contract before leaving to Russia in 40 days.”

“Maliki’s response was firm as he is adherent to the safety and progress of the armed forces and the military institution,” he mentioned.

For his part, the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, after a short time, denied what was announced by the Spokesman of the Government, Ali al-Dabbagh, over notifying him concerning the possibility of corruption to accompany the armament contracts concluded with Russia.

A statement by Maliki’s office received by IraqiNews.com cited “Dabbagh did not notify Maliki about suspicion of corruption in the armament deals concluded with Russia.”

In response to a question by a journalist, Maliki denied tasking Dabbagh concerning any issue in this respect.

Earlier, an informed military source stated that Iraq cancelled the armament deals with Russia.

“The deals were cancelled due to corruption issues,” the source concluded.