Latest news with #IntegrityCommission
Iraqi News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Head of Integrity Commission: We Will Not Allow Public Funds to Be Exploited in Election Campaigns
The Head of the Federal Commission of Integrity, Mohammed Ali Al-Lami, affirmed on Monday that public funds must not be exploited in election campaigns. According to a statement from the Commission, received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), 'Head of the Integrity Commission Mohammed Ali Al-Lami met today with the Chairman and members of the Board of Commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission.' Al-Lami emphasized that 'the Commission will form field teams in Baghdad and the provinces to visit the Electoral Commission and its branches, in coordination with it, to verify the integrity of the procedures in place and to ensure that public resources are not misused during electoral campaigns.' He noted that 'individuals covered by the General Amnesty Law who have had judicial rulings issued against them are not permitted to run in the elections.' He also warned against 'exploiting official positions and executive offices for electoral purposes,' and called on the Commission to 'instruct party leaders and founders to submit financial disclosure statements through the Department of Political Parties and Organizations Affairs.' Al-Lami further confirmed that 'the Commission will monitor the sources of party funding and how those funds are spent, in accordance with its legal mandate.' For his part, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Omar Ahmed Mohammed, expressed the Electoral Commission's 'full readiness to cooperate with the Integrity Commission,' praising its initiative to 'support transparency, protect public funds, and monitor the election campaigns of political blocs and their candidates.'
Shafaq News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
PM Al-Sudani orders crackdown on state funds misuse ahead of elections
Shafaq News/ Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Saturday urged stronger action to prevent the misuse of state resources during campaigns for the upcoming November 11 parliamentary elections. In a meeting with Integrity Commission Chairman Mohammed Ali Al-Lami, Al-Sudani emphasized the need for robust oversight to ensure the elections reflect the true will of the Iraqi people, according to a statement from his media office. He called for closer coordination among the Integrity Commission, the Federal Board of Supreme Audit, and the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to monitor and respond to potential violations. Al-Lami confirmed that the commission had completed a comprehensive review and assembled specialized teams to detect misuse and uphold fair competition among candidates.
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Walter Sofronoff may have his legal challenge to finding of ‘serious corrupt conduct' thrown out
The former judge who scrutinised Bruce Lehrmann's criminal prosecution may be legally thwarted from overturning a finding he engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct' during the inquiry. Walter Sofronoff KC has gone to the federal court to challenge the lawfulness of the Australian Capital Territory corruption watchdog's findings handed down in March, stemming from leaks to the journalist Janet Albrechtson. But the watchdog on Tuesday said its report may be protected by parliamentary privilege. 'It raises the question of whether these proceedings should take place at all,' Scott Robertson SC, for the ACT Integrity Commission, told the court. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Parliamentary privilege is designed to allow parliament to go about its business without outside interference, such as from the courts. The commission is overseen by a parliamentary committee but its report has also been published online. The speaker of the ACT parliament, Mark Parton, was also seeking to be involved in the case. But Adam Pomerenke KC, for Sofronoff, suggested that would only duplicate what the commission would say. The case is due to return to court in July. Sofronoff, a former Queensland supreme court judge, chaired a board of inquiry into the ACT's criminal justice system after controversy plagued the prosecution of Lehrmann. Lehrmann was accused of raping Brittany Higgins in the ministerial office of Senator Linda Reynolds at Parliament House in 2019. He has denied those allegations. A 2022 criminal trial was abandoned with no verdict because of juror misconduct. While prosecutors opted not to hold a re-trial, their public statements and treatment of witnesses was put under the microscope by the Sofronoff inquiry. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion It found the territory's top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold, had lost objectivity over the case and had knowingly lied about a note of his meeting with broadcaster Lisa Wilkinson. Drumgold resigned and launched a legal challenge, which upheld most of the inquiry's findings. But the ACT supreme court struck out an adverse finding about how Drumgold cross-examined Reynolds during the Lehrmann trial. It also ruled Sofronoff's behaviour during the inquiry gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias and he might have been influenced by the publicly expressed views of Albrechtson, a columnist for The Australian newspaper. Sofronoff repeatedly messaged with the News Corp journalist and eventually leaked Albrechtson an advance copy of his probe's final report. That leak led to the integrity commission's 'serious corrupt conduct finding' in March.
Iraq Business
20-03-2025
- Business
- Iraq Business
Iraqi-Russian Anti-Corruption Agreement
By John Lee. Iraq's Federal Integrity Commission and Russia's Prosecutor General's Office have begun implementing their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on anti-corruption cooperation, focusing on asset recovery and international legal assistance. During a meeting with a Russian delegation, Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Lami, Head of the Integrity Commission, emphasized the need to modernize anti-corruption mechanisms to counter evolving methods of financial misconduct. He also called on signatories of the UN Convention Against Corruption to fulfill their commitments on legal cooperation, asset recovery, and extradition, highlighting banking secrecy and legal system differences as key challenges. Discussions covered judicial investigations, evidence sharing, and financial transparency, while Russian experts stressed the importance of bilateral and multilateral partnerships to coordinate efforts at international forums. Both sides explored the twinning of Iraq's Anti-Corruption Academy with Russia's Prosecutor General's University to facilitate training, research, and academic exchanges. Workshops also addressed national coordination committees for anti-corruption enforcement and joint legal measures to track and recover illicit funds. Iraq ranks joint 140th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) , while Russia ranks joint 154th. (Source: Federal Integrity Commission)
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Former judges were once considered the bastion of integrity. The Sofronoff findings have upended that
For many years it has been customary to appoint experienced judges or former judges to head up royal commissions, boards of enquiries and the like. It has been thought that judges were well-equipped to control such hearings, often conducted in full public gaze, with fairness and equanimity. Their training made them alert to possible conflicts of interest, the need for procedural fairness and the obligation to provide natural justice where it was required. One additional characteristic was the ability to deal fairly with the media, ensuring proper public coverage, while keeping parts of the media's sometime capacity to sensationalise or act outside the boundaries of journalistic ethics under control. These certainties have now been more than somewhat shattered by the recent report of the ACT Integrity Commission. This body investigated whether Walter Sofronoff, a former Queensland judge of great distinction, had engaged in corrupt conduct while acting as a board of inquiry into matters arising out of the Bruce Lehrmann trial. The Integrity Commission's report concluded that he had indeed engaged in corrupt conduct, in fact serious corrupt conduct. Following the release of the report Sofronoff filed an application in the federal court to challenge the lawfulness of the report. The background to the Integrity Commission's investigation is well known. After the aborted Lehrmann trial, the prosecutor Shane Drumgold raised concerns about various aspects of the police and political handling of the case. He was plainly a passionate advocate for the complainant in the trial. However, his complaint was turned on its head when Sofronoff was appointed to lead a board of inquiry to consider, among other more general issues, whether Drumgold had himself acted in breach of his duties as a prosecutor. The Sofronoff report was officially published by the ACT chief minister on 7 August 2023. It was scathing of Drumgold's behaviour in a number of respects. Drumgold then initiated proceedings to invalidate the report and overturn the adverse findings. On 4 March 2024 acting Justice Stephen Kaye found that the conduct of Sofronoff – in particular his interactions with an experienced lawyer and journalist from the Australian newspaper, Janet Albrechtsen – amounted to conduct giving rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias. This finding effectively vitiated the legal validity of the adverse findings which had been made by Sofronoff. Kaye's findings revealed some startling assertions. Soffronoff and Albrechtsen had engaged in 51 private telephone conversations – over six hours in all – discussing the case; documents were supplied by Sofronoff to the journalist when requested, and views as to the inquiry and sometimes aspects of the evidence were discussed between them. It was clear that Albrechtsen was by no means an avid advocate for Brittany Higgins. For that matter, she was also shown to be highly critical of Drumgold as a prosecutor in the trial. Against this background, the ACT Integrity Commission began its investigation. It was not directly concerned with the issue as to whether the Sofronoff findings were infected by apprehended bias, although it agreed that they were. Rather its focus was on the sole question as to whether his behaviour constituted corrupt conduct within the definition of that phrase in the ACT integrity legislation. The findings were damning. The commission found that three categories of behaviour amounted to corrupt conduct. First, Sofronoff's disclosure of confidential material to the journalist, contrary to the obligations of the Inquiries Act, could amount to offences under that legislation. Secondly, his disclosure of the final report to journalists before it had been publicly released by the chief minister contravened provisions in the legislation, those provisions giving to the minister and the general assembly sole power and discretion to determine the extent and timing of publication. Thirdly, the disclosures were dishonestly concealed from both Drumgold and the chief minister, thus preventing them from taking legal action to injunct the flawed process. This impugned conduct constituted of the exercise of Sofronoff's official functions in a way that was not impartial, significantly compromised the inquiry and constituted a breach of public trust. In these circumstances, the commission concluded that this conduct could have justified Sofronoff's removal from the inquiry. The commission gave great attention to Sofronoff's arguments as to why he had been entitled to act as he did towards the media. He argued forcefully that his actions were always in accordance with statute and that he acted in the public interest to ensure the media were adequately informed about the issues being investigated and thereby placed in a position to comment accurately about them. However, the commission disagreed. It found he had not acted in good faith. His behaviour undermined the integrity of the board's processes and the fairness and propriety of its proceedings. It effectively threatened public confidence in the integrity of this aspect of public administration. Sofronoff's initial findings had condemned Drumgold's reputation. If the Integrity Commission's findings withstand legal challenge they will undoubtably and irreparably damage the standing of a once formidable jurist. The consequences of this shameful episode are serious. They cast doubt on the choice of former judges to lead important commissions or enquiries. They erode public confidence in the important role played by judges in the administration of justice. Although no adverse findings were made against the journalists involved in this matter, there is no doubt that a shadow has been cast over the media's role in this affair. In addition, we have recently seen the head of the national anti-corruption commission publicly castigated for seriously failing to handle a basic but important conflict of interest in relation to the robodebt affair, manifesting once again a reasonable apprehension of bias. None of this is satisfactory. We need to remind ourselves that there have been many well conducted public enquiries over the years with important and beneficial consequences for the community. In many of those enquiries, fairness and the provision of natural justice have been well on display. These are precious commodities. The Integrity Commission's findings must remind us – the judiciary, the media and the public – that great care and caution need to be exercised to ensure that justice is done for all. Sofronoff has now stated he will endeavour to challenge the Integrity Commission's findings. From his perspective, there is much at stake here. The irony is that, once again, contentious litigation may continue to spin out of this notorious affair. Sadly, the game is not yet over. Anthony Whealy KC is the chair of the Centre for Public Integrity and former assistant commissioner to Icac
