8/7/2011Iraq’s Prime Minister sacks Electricity Minister
Baghdad, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has sacked his Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, under charges of financial and administrative corruption, according to official sources on Saturday.
“Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has issued a decision late Saturday to sack Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, following reports about his signing of ‘illusionary’ trade contracts in the name of his Ministry, reaching 1 billion (b) and 700 million U.S. dollars,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
They stressed that “Maliki had issued another order to carry out an extensive investigation about the said case and sending all those involved in it to the Judiciary,” adding that “Maliki would assign the Electricity Ministry for his Assistant for Energy Affairs, Hussein al-Shahristany, till the naming of another Minister for the post”
Iraq’s Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, belongs to al-Iraqiya Coalition, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Noteworthy is that Iraq is suffering from an intensive crisis in its electric power, amid rising temperatures, exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, with power cuts reaching 18 hours per day in most Iraqi provinces.
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