Anti-corruption raids have targeted senior oil officials in Baghdad’s biggest graft scandal in years.
Kehinde Adegoke | OCCRP
Iraqi authorities have recovered more than $107 million in stolen state funds tied to a sprawling oil corruption and embezzlement scheme involving senior officials — with some of the cash buried so deep underground that heavy machinery was required to excavate it.
The Supreme Judicial Council announced Tuesday that investigators seized the money, almost all in Iraqi dinars, in raids linked to the arrest of Adnan Al‑Jumaili, Iraq’s deputy minister of oil and refining affairs.
Al‑Jumaili was detained in late May alongside several associates, triggering one of the country’s most dramatic anti‑corruption crackdowns in recent memory.
Following his arrest, anti‑corruption forces stormed his residence, confiscating gold jewellery, assault rifles, ammunition, three billion dinars, and roughly $10 million in cash.
Al‑Jumaili’s confessions during interrogation led investigators to hidden caches of money buried underground, raising the total haul to more than 98 billion dinars (about $96 million) and $11 million in cash.
His testimony also implicated other senior figures, resulting in the arrests of Raed al‑Jubouri, former governor of Salah al‑Din, and the governorate’s former director of health.
The probe is part of a broader anti‑graft campaign spearheaded by Prime Minister al‑Zaidi, who took office in May, vowing to dismantle entrenched corruption networks draining Iraq’s public wealth.
Financial advisor Mazhar Muhammad Salih told the Iraqi News Agency that the government is “confronting large and organised corruption by creating an effective legal lever and strengthening the power of law enforcement.”
