BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament impeached Defense Minister Khaled Al-Obeidi on Thursday over corruption allegations, removing him from office as the army gears up for an assault on Daesh’s de facto capital, Mosul.
Parliament voted 142-102 to withdraw confidence from Obeidi, two lawmakers said, after questioning him this month about weapons contracts. He denies the corruption allegations.
Obeidi, a Sunni Muslim ally of Shiite Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, had spearheaded the military campaign to retake territory that the Daesh group seized in 2014.
Lawmakers have accused the Defense Ministry of wasting billions of dollars and weakening the armed forces to the point where they collapsed in 2014 in the face of the Daesh onslaught under the previous government led by Nuri Al-Maliki, who was also acting defense minister.
Iraq’s military is slowly being rebuilt with the support of a US-led coalition. The army and Shiite militias have retaken many areas back from Daesh, but the biggest test will be the battle for Mosul.
Thirteen years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and sparked sectarian violence, major OPEC oil producer Iraq ranks 161st out of 168 nations in Transparency International’s corruption index.
(Reporting by Saif Hameed and Maher Chmaytelli)
IIraqi defense minister sacked as Mosul battle looms
IIraqi defense minister sacked as Mosul battle looms
