Iraqi judiciary bans travel for MPs accused of corruption

The Iraqi judiciary banned Thursday the parliament speaker and six lawmakers from travelling abroad over allegations of corruption revealed by the defense minister earlier in the week, a judicial official said.

The ban came a day after the Supreme Judicial Council drew up a panel to examine the claims of corruption revealed by Khalid al-Obeidi during his questioning session on Monday.

"The judicial panel decided to prevent the names mentioned by the minister Khalid al-Obeidi from travelling abroad," the spokesman of the Supreme Judicial Council Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar told reporters.

On Monday, the parliament summoned the defense minister to response to allegations of graft in his ministry, which led to waste of billions of dollars in the ministry's deals and the weakening of the armed forces.

However, Obeidi revealed, during a closed parliament session, details of blackmail by politicians and officials, including the speaker Salim al-Jubouri and other lawmakers, relating to weapons contracts and graft.

Biraqdar also said the judicial panel summoned Obeidi to get details about his allegations of graft and decided to listen to testimonies from many lawmakers and senior officials about the allegations.

For his part, Jubouri denied charges of corruption, and told a televised news conference following the session that Obeidi's charges against him and other lawmakers were "baseless."

Jubouri said he is "ready to go to court to answer the accusations of corruption against me."

In addition, Jubouri's office said on Wednesday that the speaker filed a defamation lawsuit against Obeidi. Endit