Iraq's Basra governor flees to Australia amid corruption investigation

[TheCamelGuy]

The governor of Basra has fled Iraq to Iran hours after he resigned amid a corruption investigation.

Majid Al Nasrawi said on Thursday he would stand down after a travel ban was issued against him as part of the probe.

He is facing corruption charges, which also implicate his son, linked to contracts for projects to build and improve services in the city.

Iraqi media said Mr Al Nasrawi crossed into Iran through the Al Shalamija border post on Friday.

He said he fled the country because he did not trust the judiciary, the reports said. He said there were attempts to terrorise his employees into testifying against him and that he had received threats after his resignation

“I ask all the people of Basra to clear my name of these allegations, so that I can return to my duty,” he said earlier on Thursday, when he announced his resignation at the opening of a new bridge.

He said he had left the position because he was a victim to pressure from those “associated with political factions”.

He promised to cooperate with a parliamentary commission set by the Iraqi prime minister to investigate the corruption allegations and denied any wrong doing. But hours after announcing his resignation, he slipped across the border controlled by Shiite militias.

Mr Al Nasrawi was placed under a travel ban until the parliamentary investigation was completed.

The member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq party, has been governor of Basra province since June 2013.

He has Australian citizenship and is close to the cleric and political leader Ammar Al Hakim.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/basra-governor-flees-to-iran-amid-corruption-probe-1.619074

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[TheCamelGuy]

Almost all top politicians in the country hold dual nationality, they end up collecting all the money they can to store it abroad for them and their families future, this happens on every level.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Almost all top politicians in the country hold dual nationality, they end up collecting all the money they can to store it abroad for them and their families future, this happens on every level.

Are you surprised that he crossed into Iran before escaping to Australia? It's well-known if you ask the average Basrawi, that too many of the officials in power in the Basra province, have close ties to Iranians connected with IRGC (same with the Erdogan family) which is why they tolerate Iranian agricultural products (when local Iraqi ones are better and cheaper), low-quality goods (in general) etc. Basically corruption and not working for the interests of the province, their people and the country.

Similarly pro-MB families (for instance Nujaifi) in the North have similar connections to Turkey (Erdogan). Turning a blind eye to corruption, Daesh infiltration etc.

In fact those that have connections to KSA/Jordan/GCC (UAE in particular) are the least corrupt. The also tend to be the biggest nationalists. The likes of Mishan al-Jabouri, Al-Yawer, Ahmed Abu Risha etc.

Compare those 3 peoples above track record with the likes of that individual, Al-Maliki, the Hakim family etc.

BTW this kind of joke (foreign alliances even if with friendly nations or fellow Arab countries) should not be tolerated to this extent. This is only a consequence of the current failed system put in place in 2003. KRG is a perfect example of this or the current Iraqi "president". Been saying it for years but I was called a "Ba'athi" and "Wahhabi", "Arab nationalist" (as if this was a bad thing - in the sense of wanting Arab countries to have closer mutually beneficial ties on all fronts which in return will benefit the average Arab). However in the eyes of ignorants this is being a "Ba'athi" as if this ideology has a patent on Arab nationalism which existed in the early Islamic era already and even before that. Obviously not as we know nationalism today but not too differently.