Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has admitted to a “defect and stupidity” in the contracts signed by Iraqi officials with international companies to improve his country's power distribution.
On July 23, in a Baghdad meeting with economic affairs experts broadcast by Iraqi satellite channels, Maliki said that he had “formed a committee to investigate the failure of Iraqi officials specialized in electricity.” He charged, “They were giving me wrong numbers. They said that Iraqis are getting 30,000 MW [megawatts] and that this amount exceeds their needs and can be exported abroad.”