Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi's testimony on the status of corruption in the Iraqi government

Video of Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi reading the testimony

IRAQ’S leading anti-corruption official has applied for political asylum in America with his family because of death threats against him and the murder and torture of colleagues. His son was refused asylum in Britain last month and is now hoping to join him in Washington.

Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi has been called the Eliot Ness of Iraq, a reference to the FBI officer who brought down Al Capone in the prohibition era. Radhi was the head of Iraq’s commission on public integrity until he arrived in America in August for State Department training. While he was away, he was forced out of his job and accused on television by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, of running away from his country.

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It was an acrimonious end to a battle against corruption that Radhi, 62, had begun with enthusiasm. He had supported the American invasion of Iraq, believing that Saddam Hussein “built his dictatorship on the corpses, money and suffering of Iraqis”. He said in an interview that his dream was “to build a new, democratic Iraq”.

Instead, he finds himself without a job in America, trying to obtain asylum status with little money and few means of support. The Maliki government, according to Radhi, is as corrupt as Saddam’s and regards itself as above the law.

Radhi said Maliki intervened to block investigations in a number of high-profile cases. Out of 3,000 cases, only 241 have reached court. He believes that corruption has cost Iraq £9 billion in the past three years and that most of the money has ended up in the hands of the sectarian militias.

Members of Radhi’s anti-corruption team have been picked off one by one. Thirty-one employees have been murdered: one was gunned down with his wife, who was seven months pregnant; another was beheaded. Radhi’s own home has been attacked with rockets and he was shot at by a sniper outside his office. “I’ve had to live surrounded by bodyguards and unable to go out, because the militias are able to kill me anywhere in the country,” Radhi said.

The persecution of Iraq’s most committed, nonsectarian nation-builders is one of the great tragedies of the postinvasion era. Like Radhi many Iraqi patriots have been hounded out of the country. Members of the judge’s immediate family received so many death threats after he arrived in America that they were airlifted out of Iraq a fortnight ago.

Radhi wishes British troops would do more to stem corruption in southern Iraq before pulling out. “Thank you for helping the Iraqi people,” he said, “but there is no point fighting the militias without addressing corruption. The British and American people should be outraged that their money is going to fund attacks on their troops.”

Henry Waxman, the Democrat congressman who chairs the House oversight committee, heard evidence from Radhi earlier this month. He said: “We need to ask, is the Maliki government too corrupt to succeed?

We need to ask whether we can in good conscience continue to sacrifice our blood and tax dollars to prop up this regime.”

Republican committee members, in contrast, have tried to play down his allegations. Dar-rell Issa said: “We’re not surprised a country that was run by a corrupt dictator . . . would have a pattern of corruption.”

Soon after he gave evidence, Radhi received word that an application for asylum in Britain filed by his 21-year-old son had been turned down.

Liam Byrne, a Home Office minister, wrote to Chris Mullin MP that Radhi’s son would have access to “the highest level of protection available in Iraq” and would thus have no reason to stay in Britain.

Radhi has himself been accused of corruption by the Iraqi government, despite winning high praise from American officials. Stuart Bowen, the American inspector general for the reconstruction of Iraq, described Radhi as “an honourable man and an effective crime-fighter in Iraq”, saying it was “a loss that he is no longer there”.

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