Posted on 06/07/2003 9:03:54 AM PDT by kattracks
June 7— BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces have detained a former deputy commander of the Iraqi national police over allegations of subversion and corruption, the U.S.-led administration in Iraq said on Saturday.
General Mohammed Habib al-Mashadani, a senior Baath party member, was arrested on Friday night for trying to recreate a Baathist cell within the police force, a spokesman said.
The detention also followed complaints by policemen that Mashadani was using intimidation to get relatives placed on the police payroll and to divert police vehicles to family members.
"We are not going to tolerate corruption in the police department or any other branch of government," the spokesman quoted Bernard Kerik, top U.S. adviser at the interior ministry and former New York City police chief, as saying.
Mashadani had earlier been told to go home under the administration's policy of sacking senior Baath party members after U.S.-led forces toppled president Saddam Hussein more than eight weeks ago.
Last Saturday U.S. forces arrested 15 Iraqi officers at the police college in Baghdad for holding secret meetings in support of the now-dissolved Baath party.
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