Iraq’s purchase of several thousand fake bomb detectors has
been an infamous case of corruption within the country. The ADE 651 devices
were used despite objections from the United States and British, and when they
were proven to not work, and the manufacturer was imprisoned for selling the
bogus detectors the Iraqi government still refused to admit that it was wrong.
The Interior Ministry general who bought the ADEs and got a hefty sum in
kickbacks in the process was finally convicted and his sentence recently
approved.
On January 19,
2016 Iraq’s main anti-corruption agency the Integrity Commission ratified the
imprisonment of the general responsible for purchasing the ADE 651s. In June
2012, General Jihad al-Jabiri the former head of the Interior Ministry’s
Anti-Explosives Department was sentenced on misdemeanor corruption charges. In
January the Integrity Commission okayed his four years imprisonment. The
Ministry’s inspector general discovered
that up to 75% of the money spent on purchasing the detectors actually went to
kickbacks to 15
Iraqi officials. That was supported in the trial
of the devices’ manufacturer Jim McCormick in England in 2013 where he revealed
that he paid millions in bribes to Iraqis to finish the deal. Jabiri was
arrested in February 2011 for buying the ADEs. That was after years of the
Interior Ministry denying any wrong doing and protecting the general from investigations.
The ADEs were controversial from the day Iraq bought them.
McCormick sold 7,000 of them to the Interior Ministry in 2007 for $2,500-30,000
each even though they only took $50 to build. The devices had no working parts
in them and no power source. Users were told to walk in circles to generate
static electricity that would power them. In November 2008 a British official
warned that the devices did not work. In 2009 the British and American forces
in Iraq investigated the 651s and both reported that they did not operate. The
next year England banned the exportation of the detectors. Despite all this the
Iraqi government said there was no wrongdoing in their purchase and insisted
that they were good for anti-bomb duties. That happened even after Jabiri was
arrested and McCormick was convicted. Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for
example, said that most of the 651s were effective right after McCormick was
found guilty. The next Premier Haidar Abadi then ordered all of the devices
removed from service, but some were still seen being used in the streets of
Baghdad.
The approval of General Jabiri’s sentence might be the last
note heard from Iraq on the ADE 651s. Despite taking millions in bribes not to
mention costing the lives of hundreds of people who were killed by bombs not
discovered by the detectors he only got a misdemeanor charge. This was yet
another example of how the Iraqi government is not serious about fighting
corruption. High officials are routinely let go for stealing and graft. Those
that are found guilty are usually out of the country or given slaps on the
wrists like Jabiri. Corruption is too important to the ruling parties who use
it to maintain power via their patronage networks. That’s the reason why it
continues to fester within the country.
SOURCES
Sotaliraq, “Integrity Commission approves the imprisonment
of the anti-explosives director for four years,” 1/19/16
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