Iraq ex-minister's minor fine in graft case sparks anger

Louay al-Khatib was given a one-year suspended sentence and fined one million Iraqi dinars (around $685) by a Baghdad court earlier this month, according to the charge sheet seen by AFP.

Three officials from the ministry were also sentenced.

Iraq's commission for transparency, which oversees corruption cases, said the four were convicted of having committed "deliberate irregularities" by awarding a $808 million contract to a company without proper credentials.

The contract called for the "rehabilitation, management and maintenance" of a Baghdad power station, the commission said.

But the firm, which was not named, "is not specialised in the maintenance and rehabilitation" of power stations, it said.

When news broke out of the sentence, Iraqis vented their frustration and anger at what they perceive to be rampant corruption in the oil rich country.

"This is a reward... not a sentence for corruption", Mustafa Saadoun, the head of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, wrote on Twitter.

Kurdish political analyst Shajo al-Kara Daghi agreed.

"Are these real and dissuasive sentences aimed at fighting against corruption and the corrupt?" Daghi wrote on Twitter. "Or is it a bid to encourage corruption, fraud and illicit gains?"

Iraq has consistently ranked low on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, coming in 157th out of 180 countries for perceived corruption levels in state institutions last year.

In 2019, Iraq was rocked by massive protests fuelled by charges of widespread official corruption, incompetence and economic hardships.

Despite being rich in oil and gas, Iraq's electricity infrastructure has suffered from years of negligence and war, and faces regular power cuts.

The sector has been also riddled with allegations of corruption.

In January a senior official at the electricity ministry was sentenced to six years in prison in a case involving bribes.