Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced it has opened an investigation into corruption suspicions of the government formation to be announced Sunday (today) by prime minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi.
Spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Abdul Sattar Bayrakdar, indicated that the head of the Council ordered the immediate summoning of any figure who appears in the media and bargains for positions in the new government. If the allegation proves to be false, the accuser will be punished according to the law, he warned.
Earlier, Iraqi politician Ibrahim al-Sumaidaie announced in a televised statement that he was offered millions of dollars by a certain political party in exchange for granting it one or more ministry in the new cabinet. The public prosecutor began investigating Sumaidaie’s allegations.
Sumaidaie asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat that he was not part of the negotiating or advisory team of the Prime Minister-designate, although he was asked to join.
He claimed that Allawi's team lacked the mechanism to understand and address the situation in the country, adding that it sought to resolve the popular crisis at the expense of the political one, and that could lead to a major disaster.
Sumaidaie explained that Allawi wanted to form an independent cabinet by nominating independent figures, however, he wondered how they would be able to gain the parties’ acceptance in order to win the confidence vote.
It costs over $100 million for a certain party to ensure a ministry, according to Sumaidaie.
Political researcher Hisham al-Hashemi told Asharq Al-Awsat that there were serious political discussions in the parliament indicating the new cabinet might not receive the confidence vote.
He explained that one of the most important discussions now concerns collecting enough signatures and submitting a petition to the President to dissolve the parliament and call for early elections, thus not granting Allawi’s government the confidence.
Meanwhile, Nasr Coalition, led by former PM Haider al-Abadi warned political forces against the consequences of establishing the partisan ethnic sectarian system of quotas based on interests under the pretexts of components' entitlement.
The Coalition issued a statement calling for national solidarity to preserve the country and facilitate the fundamental reform of the political system.
MP of Fatah Alliance Fadhel Jaber affirmed that failure to pass Allawi’s government would force a dissolution of parliament and early elections.
Jaber said that the political blocs did not have all the information on the ministers who were chosen by Allawi, adding that the fact that the blocs were not aware of the progress of the formation would lead to obstruction in voting and perhaps failure to pass the cabinet.
He explained that in that case, the President would assume the presidency of the caretaker government for a six-month period leading to early elections.
