BAGHDAD, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Faiq Zaidan, head of the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, Monday called on the Iraqi parliament to lift the immunity of the lawmakers assuming executive positions from prosecution when they stand accused of corruption.
Zaidan "appealed for cooperation between the judiciary and the Integrity Commission to bring the people accused of corruption to the courts" by "lifting the immunity of lawmakers accused of committing administrative corruption during their work in the executive field," said a statement by the media office of the Supreme Judicial Council.
His appeal was also directed at the ministries and government offices in order to swiftly complete the administrative investigations required for prosecution of corrupt officials.
There was no immediate response from the parliament to this demand.
Corruption is one of Iraq's biggest problems that caused extreme poverty among the people of the oil-rich country.
Many accuse the influential political parties of being behind the wide-spread corruption, which led to high unemployment and failure in rehabilitation of Iraq's electricity, water and other basic services.
