Iraq announced plans yesterday to post details of government contracts and spending on the Internet in a bid to fight corruption that has undermined peace efforts, hit state coffers and hurt government credibility.
Launching the "e-government" initiative, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said sectarian politics had helped create corruption by dividing ministries among groups who give patronage to their members.
He said Iraq's culture of corruption stems from the actions of the international community and the controversial UN oil-for-food scheme.
Saleh said that the programme, run between 1996 and 2003 while Iraq was under UN sanctions, and what he charged was the body's wasteful use of money were to blame for the rampant corruption that bedevils Iraq.
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Quelle/Source: Gulf Daily News, 04.01.2008
