Stopping corruption at the border in Iraq

AP:

In November, the customs office at this port of entry between Jordan and Iraq collected a little over $20,000 in tariffs and government fees. Two months later, it tallied 30 times that amount, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

The difference? The port director was jailed on charges of corruption and collaboration with insurgents, and he was replaced by a tough outsider who is winning praise from U.S. commanders.

A burly, intense former army officer, Gen. Ridha Alewey Manoush has fired many of the old workers and predicts revenues will rise more as he roots out those who give in to temptations to pocket customs fees or take bribes from smugglers trying to avoid tariffs on goods entering Iraq.

"I swore ... I will not accept any bribes or gifts from anybody. That's why I control the port. If I took anything, then I couldn't tell my workers" to refuse bribes, said the new boss, who says he was sidelined from the Iraqi army in the 1990s for opposing Saddam Hussein's rule.

Corruption at this western Iraqi post was endemic when Manoush arrived from his home in the southern city of Kut.

Government workers couldn't be separated from hustlers because both wore civilian clothes at a facility that checks some 300 people and about 1,250 trucks every day.

U.S. Marine officers say there were as many as five internal checkpoints within the port grounds charging unauthorized fees. Customs workers underreported the amount of goods coming into the country and pocketed tariffs and other fees.

Some corrupt workers even charged parking fees at open lots for unsuspecting drivers who stopped to get passport stamps.

It's unclear how much of that siphoned cash was funneled to militants, but U.S. commanders across Iraq's western frontier region have long suspected smuggling helps finance at least some insurgent operations. Iraqi officials see a clear link between militants and smuggling.

"Insurgents and terrorists used this place. Smugglers and insurgents cooperate with each other," Manoush said. "The terrorists are taking a fee from the smugglers. These people know each other."

...


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