Iraq is experiencing widespread corruption through massive embezzlement in the oil industry run by the new authorities in the occupied country, The Washington Post reported Monday.
According to the daily, nearly 10 percent of locally-refined fuel and 30 percent of imports are stolen and sold illegally.
General Comptroller David M. Walter, of the General Accounting Office, recently warned the US Congress of massive corruption and theft in the Iraqi oil sector. “It just took me one and a half seconds to know there is corruption, as the numbers don´t match,†he stated.
After the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Transparency International, the leading global non-governmental organization fighting corruption, repeatedly declared that Iraq would become the “greatest corruption scandal ever†if measures were not taken.
Corruption is rife, with public employees selling stolen medicine, medical equipment, and even oil on the black market, the source added.
An audit by KPMG agency in July 2004 alerted of increasing dishonesty in the country, noting that oil income was inadequately managed.
