Arrest warrant issued for main accused in Iraq's 'heist of the century'

An Iraqi judge has issued an arrest warrant for the chief suspect in Iraq’s “heist of century” in which at least $2.5 billion was allegedly embezzled from government funds.

Noor Zuhair Jassim was arrested at Baghdad International Airport in late 2022 as he was trying to leave the country on a private jet and later released on bail. Another warrant was issued after he failed to appear for an Anti-corruption Criminal Court hearing in Baghdad on Tuesday.

In October 2022, Iraq’s acting finance minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar announced an investigation into billions of dollars of alleged thefts from the General Commission for Taxes, a department in the Ministry of Finance.

The funds were deposited by trading companies and individuals as a guarantee to pay taxes after finishing projects commissioned by the government or importing goods. The companies and individuals can later apply to withdraw what is left from their deposits after deducting the taxes.

In the embezzlement scheme, cash was fraudulently paid 247 cheques from the tax commission's account at the state-run Rafidain Bank to five companies between September 9, 2021, and August 11, 2022, the investigation found.

According to the findings of the internal investigation conducted by the Finance Ministry and obtained by The National, the companies – at least three of them established in 2021 – submitted fake documents for their claims.

A month later, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani announced that Mr Jassim had confessed to receiving 1.618 trillion Iraqi dinars and returning only 182 billion.

He was later released on bail after an “agreement” with the court “to recover the full amount … after placing a refinery he owns as a collateral”, Mr Al Sudani said at the time.

“His movable and immovable assets will be seized, and they will not be allowed to be sold without notifying the court to ensure repayment according to a schedule within two weeks,” the Prime Minister added.

It is the second time Mr Jassim has failed to show up to the court after the first hearing set on August 14, prompting Judge Khalid Saddam to issue an arrest warrant against him, the court announced.

Mr Jassim’s whereabouts is still unknown, but according to politician Mustafa Sanad he is travelling between Lebanon, Turkey and the UAE. Pictures surfaced on social media at the weekend of him on a stretcher and stained with blood, alleging he had been in a car accident in Beirut. The authenticity of the pictures could not be immediately verified by The National.

The 44-year-old father of four defended himself in an interview with an Iraqi satellite channel this month, without mentioning his whereabouts. He said he acted as a debt buyer and the withdrawal of the money was based on genuine authorising letters from the companies that wanted to avoid the long bureaucratic process of claiming the funds.

It is one of the country's biggest corruption-related scandals since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime and has led to widespread anger in Iraq.

The country was ranked 154 out of 180 countries on the 2023 corruption index by the global watchdog Transparency International.

In late 2022, former UN special representative for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, described corruption in the country as “pervasive, structural and systemic”. A year before, former president Barham Salih estimated Iraq had lost $150 billion to embezzlement since 2003.

Mr Al Sudani, who took office in October 2022, has vowed to crack down on corruption but few expect any senior officials or political leaders to be held accountable. He is seeking a second term in office in next year's national elections.