Iraq pension audit flags corruption as 16,384 deceased still listed

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Federal Integrity Commission launched an audit of pension records after cross-checks identified 16,384 deceased beneficiaries whose payments had not been stopped and uncovered “deliberate irregularities” involving managers of some Pension Board departments in provinces affected by terrorist attacks, the commission announced on Friday.

The review will be conducted by joint committees headed by the Integrity Commission and comprising representatives from the Federal Board of Supreme Audit, Martyrs Foundation, Pension Board, and Interior Ministry, following approval by Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi.

Their work will include matching corrected Pension Authority records against information held by electronic payment companies handling pension disbursements to determine sums collected without entitlement and pursue their recovery through legal procedures.

The move follows an Integrity Commission report recommending a comprehensive review of pension files, closer verification of beneficiary records, and an electronic link between the Martyrs Foundation and the Pension Board.

Among the irregularities, the report found about 40,000 biometric Qi Cards had been issued on the basis of outdated information that remained unchanged in the Pension Board’s system, despite the commission calling several months ago for pensioners’ details to be updated and duplicate pension numbers eliminated.

The Interior Ministry also provided information on a large number of citizens whose Pension Board records were incomplete. The report documented what it described as deliberate errors in some pensioners’ information entered by the board’s branches and departments, noting that managers of some departments had been implicated in corruption cases, particularly in provinces that experienced terrorist attacks.

The commission called for the affected records to be corrected in coordination with authorities to prevent payments to people not legally entitled to pensions.

In Nineveh, a committee formed under a cabinet order is reviewing 102,867 names registered as martyrs or people injured in terrorist attacks. Cross-checks with Martyrs Foundation records uncovered payments to ineligible recipients because the Pension Board had not obtained their beneficiary details from the foundation.

This is a developing story…