The recent joint report by Australia's Fairfax Media and the Huffington Post uncovering serious international corruption scandal allegedly masterminded by a Monaco based company, Unaoil, has attracted worldwide attention and prompted formal investigations in many countries, including Iraq.

On 1 April, the headquarters of Unaoil and the homes of its executives have been raided by police in Monaco. In a statement, the Monaco government said it was helping British authorities investigate the "vast corruption scandal" revealed in recent days by Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post.

Monaco government statement said that several of the company's senior executives had been questioned between 29-30 March and their homes and headquarters searched following an urgent request from Britain's Serious Fraud Office-BSFO.

The searches and interviews were conducted in the presence of BSFO officers and the items collected during the search will be now be used by the BSFO in their investigations.

Fairfax Media revealed on Thursday, 31 March, that the British police had teamed up with the Australian Federal Police, the US Department of Justice-DoJ and the FBI to investigate the vast cache of emails on which their joint report was based.

 

The Monaco government said it would not release further details at this stage in case it compromised the investigation. The British, Australian and US authorities above mentioned might make some statements and provide further information on their investigation in the coming days; so we have to keep watching.

In Iraq the development of the case has been very fast.

My commentary on the published report was posted to my professional network and on IBN on 31 March (see my comment on http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2016/03/31/new-allegations-of-massive-corruption-in-iraq-oil-industy/). The professional network comprises more than 1500 individuals and entities, mostly in Iraq; it includes Ministers, senior government officials, local government council members, parliamentarians, politicians, academics, professionals, consultants and experts, civil society organization’ activists, student, media and journalists among other.

In my commentary I suggested the following:

1-    The seriousness of the accusations should prompt the Iraqi authorities, particularly the Council of Ministers, the Parliament, the Integrity Commission and the Ministry of Oil to take immediate legal action to investigate the accuracy and validity of the allegations concerning the Iraqi government officials whose names are mentioned in the above mentioned article;

2-    The Iraqi authorities should consider taking legal actions against Unaoil and all involved companies that are mentioned in the article, and should seek to have compensation accordingly;

3-    Blacklisting Unaoil from any operation in Iraq and declaring all its owners, agents, associates, partners and employees (especially Basil Al Jarah) as "persona non-grata” and preventing them from visiting Iraq is an immediate course of action until the investigation proves otherwise;

4-    There should be no-impunity for corrupting and corrupted entities, companies and individuals: corrupts must punish and pay.

The feedbacks I received and what has been published and posted on various Iraqi media sources indicate many tendencies, positions and interpretations; action taken so far echoes, partially, what I suggested.

1-      Conspiracy theory thinking and understanding.  Some think that the timing of publishing the joint report has something to do with the current political situation and debate inside Iraq and meant to serve specific political purpose. To refute this claim I can only say the following:

(i)                 it took the team who prepared the joint report more than six months of work over two continents, much earlier than current Iraqi domestic political crisis;

(ii)               the joint report is not about Iraq only but it includes other countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Iran, Kuwait, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan;

(iii)             the swift actions by Monaco (French), British, Australian and US authorities manifest the seriousness of this scandal on international level and not confined to Iraq.

2-      Political revenge and character assassination. Some uses this case by focusing on and highlighting the name of one person in apparent revenge behavior aiming at inflicting political damage and character assassination. The focus has been, unfairly, on Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani.

In my view Al-Shahristani reaction to the joint report allegation has been the most honorable among all the individuals whose names were mention in the joint report. I base my view on the following:

(i)                 he is the only one who responded to the publisher’ request to comment on the joint report; other involved Iraqi officials did not respond to requests to comment (as the joint report asserts) and they haven’t done so up to now;

(ii)               he himself urged the government to investigate everyone named in the report, including himself, and he called on the Huffington Post to hand over all the documents it referenced.

3-      A case of Sub-Contracting and E&P Contracts not the Ministry’ Service Contracts. Some, by omission or intention, links this corruption cases to the bid rounds and the Ministry’s long term Service Contracts. In response to such misunderstanding  I would say the following:

(i)                 as I have said and wrote many times the bid rounds process have been the most open, transparent and thorough ever seen in the international petroleum industry;

(ii)               the concluded service contracts give the highest "government take” compared with any other contract modality, though they are not perfect or without flaws;

(iii)             all corruption cases referred to by the joint report has nothing to do with the concluded service contracts but they are related to various sub-contracts, such as drilling contracts (which I myself have written about them for Rumaila field as early as April 2010) or related to projects outside the concluded service contracts such as the SMBs (which I also have some documents dating 2011 indicating irregularities and call for investigation).  

4-      Allegation not Sentencing. The Office of the Prime Minister-OPM issued statement about the published joint report saying the report, "proves the involvement of senior government officials” as reported by Almasalah website on Saturday 2 April 2016.

The OPM is wrong and should be very careful in its statement. What was mentioned by the joint report is not "proof” of guilt or wrong doing but "allegations” substantiated by very strong and many documents-mainly thousands of emails.  It is up to the due process legal investigation and court of law decision to prove or otherwise these allegations.

5-      The Prime Minister instructed the Integrity Commission to take legal measures and calls on the judiciary to open immediate legal proceedings concerning the grave newspaper reports on corruption "during the former governments”; on Saturday 2 April the Integrity Commission began its investigation.

This is very important and welcoming course of action, which echoes what I called for launching immediate investigation in my commentary above mentioned regarding this scandal.

In addition to the corruption cases referred to in the reports, I suggest the Iraqi investigation should also include the sub-contract that was awarded to Unaoil for the rehabilitation of West Qurna oilfield Compressor Stations CS7 and CS8 in July 2015, under current government.

6-      This Unaoil case as well as the scandalous Missan Refinery contract with the bankrupt Satarem Company ( both concluded under current government) should be thoroughly investigated and the Supreme Council for Combating Corruption-SCCC that is chaired by the Prime Minister ought to monitor such investigation thoroughly and constantly.

7-      Finally, it is advisable that the Iraqi related authorities cooperate fully with the international investigations on this case; and keep the public informed on its deliberations.     

The co-author of the joint report, Nick McKenzie wrote, "The sources of this story never asked for money”, "What they wanted was for some of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in governments and companies across the globe to be exposed for acting corruptly, and with impunity, for years.”

Though corruption cases have no terms of limitation, justice delayed justice denied.  

Please feel free to share this communication within your network and contacts.

 

Ahmed Mousa Jiyad,

Iraq/ Development Consultancy and Research,

Norway.

Mou-jiya@online.no

 

3 April 2016