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Iraqi deputy minister arrested in corruption sting
Iraqi police arrested the deputy transport minister after he was allegedly filmed taking a bribe in a sting operation, a lawmaker said Thursday.
Sabah al-Saedi, the chairman of parliament's anti-corruption committee, said police filmed Adnan al-Obeidi accepting a $100,000 bribe from a company doing work at the Baghdad airport.
The arrest is the latest attempt by the Iraqi government to grapple with the rampant corruption plaguing the country after years of ignoring the problem.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International rated Iraq in 2008 as the third most corrupt country in the world after Somalia and Myanmar, but the Iraqi government had long downplayed the issue.