Iraq's corruption continues unchecked - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Wassim Bassem

Wassim Bassem

Feb 25, 2015

Labourers work at a construction site in Karrad district in Baghdad April 3, 2013. Thanks to a partial improvement of security and an oil boom, Iraqis' average incomes are rising sharply, and they are able to save more. But many of these savings are not being channelled into the stock market, where they could earn returns, or even into bank deposits, where they could be lent on to companies for fresh investment. Instead, they are going into real estate. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: BUSINESS REAL EST — Laborers work at a construction site in Karrad district in Baghdad, April 3, 2013. — REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen

عربي

A general view of the buildings at Bismayah residential project in Baghdad, February 26, 2015. On a main highway south of Baghdad, dozens of buildings rise up from the Iraqi plains, the first blocks of a multi-billion-dollar city emerging from a landscape more accustomed to conflict and crisis than glitzy new development. Bismayah New City, which aims to house half a million people within four years, dwarfs any construction project Iraq has attempted in a generation. Picture taken February 26, 2015. REUTER

Iraq's failing construction projects

Wassim Bassem

Vehicles are seen along a flooded street after heavy overnight rains in Baghdad, November 11, 2013. Baghdad's streets were knee deep in dirty water after heavy overnight rains. Residents struggle with the poor sewage system and lack of municipal services. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad (IRAQ - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) ) - RTX1597K

Corruption, 'ghost contractors' sink Baghdad after rains

Wassim Bassem

A member of Iraq's Hashid Shaabi paramilitary force looks on while standing along a runway at the heavily damaged airport of the northern city of Mosul.

Iraq starts rebuilding Mosul airport

Adnan Abu Zeed

Men walk past a sign in al-Toraba area near an oilfield of West Qurna-2 in Basra, 420 km (261 miles) southeast of Baghdad, October 26, 2013. After struggling for decades from sanctions and wars, most recently the U.S.-led invasion from 2003-2011, expectations run high among the 150,000 tribesmen living on West Qurna-2, the world's second-largest undeveloped oilfield. Their sheer number leaves Lukoil with a far tougher challenge than rival firms operating the huge but sparsely populated fields nearby. Pictur

Basra governor speaks about corruption, security challenges

Mushreq Abbas