Reporting a corruption offence: where to go and what happens next
An employee may come across irregular spending in his or her department, another official may ask for something in return for completing a transaction, or a contractor may notice manipulation in a tender. The question is the same: where to go, whether the reporter's identity is revealed, and what happens to the report afterwards. The office of lawyer Ali Barakat in Baghdad answers from the Criminal Procedure Law and the Integrity Commission and Illicit Gain Law.
Report and complaint: the difference
The first article of the Criminal Procedure Law provides that a criminal case is set in motion by an oral or written complaint from the injured party, a person acting for him or her, or anyone who learns of the offence, or by a report from the public prosecution. Corruption offences defined in the first article of the Commission's law, such as bribery, embezzlement and theft of state funds, are not offences whose prosecution depends on the victim's complaint, so a report is enough.
Who receives the report?
The first paragraph of article 47 allows a victim, and anyone who learns of an offence prosecutable without a complaint, to report it to:
- the investigative judge, or
- an investigator, or
- the public prosecution, or
- a police station.
The Integrity Commission investigates corruption cases through its investigators under the supervision of the investigative judge under article 11 of its law, so corruption reports can also be made to the Commission, which carries out inquiries and then puts the matter to the judge.
What is recorded
Paragraph (a) of article 49 requires the officer in charge of a police station, on receiving a report of a felony or misdemeanour, to record the reporter's statement at once, take his or her signature, and send a report to the investigative judge or investigator. Paragraph (c) requires a summary of the report and its time to be entered in the station's register.
In practice a report is stronger with what accompanies it: the department, the transaction and the date, the names of those present, and documents the reporter holds lawfully. The second paragraph of article 16 of the Commission's law requires a report "supported by credible evidence" before an official is required to disclose his or her finances, which is a useful standard for any report.
Keeping the reporter's identity confidential
The second paragraph of article 47 allows a reporter of offences against the internal or external security of the state, economic sabotage, and other offences punishable by death or life or fixed-term imprisonment to ask that his or her identity not be disclosed and that he or she not be treated as a witness. The judge may record this with a summary of the report in a special register and conduct the investigation using the information without naming the reporter in the investigation papers.
Protection therefore depends on the seriousness of the offence: many major corruption offences are felonies punishable by imprisonment and fall within the text, while misdemeanours do not.
An official's duty to report
Article 48 requires every person in public service who, while working or because of the work, learns of or suspects an offence prosecutable without a complaint to report it immediately to one of the bodies named in article 47. For an official, reporting is a duty, not merely a permission.
What happens to the report at the Commission?
The first paragraph of article 13 of the Commission's law allows its head to shelve a report without putting it to the investigative judge in two cases: where it contains no offence, or where preliminary inquiries show it to be untrue or false. The second paragraph allows the investigative judge to call up any shelved report and act on it as he sees fit.
If not shelved, the report follows the route on the investigation route in integrity cases. If the act turns out not to be a corruption case, it follows the ordinary criminal route, as explained on integrity cases versus ordinary complaints.
Legal basis and sources
- Criminal Procedure Law No. 23 of 1971, articles 1, 47, 48 and 49 (Official Gazette, issue 2004 of 31/5/1971)
- Integrity Commission Law No. 30 of 2011, articles 1, 3, 11, 13 and 16 (Official Gazette, issue 4217 of 14/11/2011)
Frequently asked questions
Must I be a victim to report corruption?
No. Article 47 allows anyone who learns of an offence prosecutable without a complaint to report it.
Will my identity stay confidential?
It may be requested for offences punishable by imprisonment or more under the second paragraph of article 47, and the judge decides.
My report was shelved by the Commission. Is that the end?
The investigative judge may call up a shelved report under the second paragraph of article 13. Challenges are covered on challenging procedures in integrity cases.
Related topics and articles
- 01The investigation route in integrity cases: the Commission, the investigative judge and the public prosecutionHow corruption cases are investigated: Integrity Commission investigators under the investigative judge's supervision, the priority of the Commission's jurisdiction, notice to its legal department, requests to take over a case, and the judge's decisions after investigation, under the Commission's law and the Criminal Procedure Law.
- 02Integrity cases versus ordinary criminal complaintsA comparison between a corruption case investigated by the Integrity Commission and an ordinary criminal complaint: the offences, who starts the case, the complaint deadline, the investigating body, the effect of withdrawal and the competent court, under the Commission's law and the Criminal Procedure Law.
- 03Challenging procedures and decisions in integrity casesRoutes of challenge in corruption cases: cassation against investigative judge decisions before the felony court within thirty days, challenges to judgments before the Federal Court of Cassation, what cannot be challenged separately, and the Integrity Commission's right to challenge and to recall shelved reports.
- 04The Federal Integrity Commission: mandate, structure and limitsThe eight duties of the Federal Integrity Commission in article 3 of Iraq's Integrity Commission and Illicit Gain Law No. 30 of 2011 as amended, its head, deputies and departments, oversight by the Council of Representatives, and the limits on its work inside ministries.
- 05Illicit gain in Iraqi law: definition, proof and penaltyThe definition of illicit gain in the seventh paragraph of article 1 of Iraq's Integrity Commission and Illicit Gain Law No. 30 of 2011 as amended, when a file opens, the ninety days to prove sources, and the penalties and return of value in article 19.