INTERVIEW - Iraqi official calls for more action on corruption

By Missy Ryan and Khalid al-Ansary

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government's efforts against corruption have been halting at best, and Iraqi courts frequently bow to political pressure in cases against officials suspected of wrongdoing, a leading anticorruption official said.

Sabah al-Saedi, who heads parliament's integrity commission and whose zealous anticorruption campaigns make him a gadfly for some in Iraqi officialdom, also said that exasperation about corruption would shape the outcome of national polls next year.

"Maliki has raised the banner of fighting corruption, but then he has retreated, saying it is not a major problem and has been politicised," said Saedi, a member of the Fadhila party, rival to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party.

"The government doesn't have any real intention to fight corruption," Saedi said in an interview on Sunday.

Since the chaotic early days after the 2003 invasion, when the government melted away and unguarded ministries were looted of everything down to their lightbulbs, Iraq has been a victim of graft, embezzlement and fraud of epic proportions.

There have been few robust checks on the oil money flowing into ministries rebuilt from scratch over the past six years.

THIRD MOST CORRUPT COUNTRY