35 Iraqi officials arrested over coup plot

About 35 Iraqi officials have been arrested at the interior ministry, some accused of planning a coup, the New York Times reported, citing senior security officials in Baghdad.

The arrests over the past three days were carried out by an elite counterterrorism force that reports directly to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the report said.

Senior security officials said there was significant evidence tying those arrested to Al Awda, a group accused of working to reconstitute the Baath Party of late Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, the Times reported.

The newspaper cited a high-ranking interior ministry official as saying those affiliated with Al Awda had paid bribes to other officers to recruit them and that huge amounts of money had been found in the raids.

Critics of Maliki accuse him of using arrests to consolidate power a month ahead of provincial elections, the Times said.

One police officer, who knows several of the detainees, said they were innocent, were long-standing civil servants and had little in common with one another, the paper reported.

The unnamed officer told the Times the detainees who once belonged to the Baath Party were lower-level members, insisting that the arrests were politically motivated.

Beyond political intrigue and tensions among various factions in Iraq, corruption is also a major impediment to the country's recovery and development.

U.S. officials said on Wednesday the Iraqi government has yet to try a single senior official on corruption charges and ministers routinely shield political allies from prosecution.

Embassy officials painted a bleak picture of official misconduct in the government of Maliki, who heads a fragile coalition struggling to heal political divisions and lead Iraq out of more than five years of war.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has been awash in money and opportunities for graft, including massive U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, billions of dollars in oil revenues and nascent institutions with little oversight.