$1.26B hospital projects under corruption scrutiny

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's Parliamentary Integrity Committee has launched a probe into suspected corruption and major irregularities in five hospital projects worth a combined $1.26 billion, awarded to an "unregistered" and underperforming company, committee member Salem al-Issawi told Shafaq News on Saturday.

The case forms part of a broader review of stalled hospital and investment projects awarded in previous years, Al-Issawi clarified, noting that the five hospitals under his review were referred for investment in 2011.

Each project was initially valued at $145 million before an additional $107 million was allocated in 2020, raising the cost to $252 million per hospital. “The company has fallen behind on implementation, maintains no branch in Iraq, and does not appear in the country’s official company registry,” he observed.

One of the projects is in Al-Muthanna province, where Al-Issawi noted that the province’s only hospital, built more than 50 years ago, is currently out of service.

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