Anti-corruption official in Iraq accused of fraud

Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer

Iraq's top anticorruption watchdog, a high-profile judge whose efforts have been hailed by Americans as one of the few bright spots in the country, is himself the target of a corruption probe, officials said Saturday. Judge Radhi Radhi, head of Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, is under investigation by court authorities, accused of turning his 1,700-employee agency into a personal fiefdom and padding his salary with an extra $50,000 a year. Radhi denies the charges, arguing that they're part of a campaign of intimidation by government officials to quash his investigations, which include examinations of corruption in ministries controlled by Iraq's dominant Shiite Muslim parties...

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