Operation Dawn: Iraq’s corruption drive and the power behind itBaghdad’s latest anti-corruption sweep extends further than previous campaigns, but how it was enabled and where it will lead remain unclear.For years, corruption arrests in Iraq were largely confined to lower-ranking employees, detained on charges of administrative and financial misconduct, with their cases publicized through Integrity Commission statements monitoring conduct across the public sector and its links to private companies.
Senior figures tied to border crossings, oil contracts, or major investment files remained largely beyond reach. The Iraqi public became accustomed to cycles of announcements that stopped short of touching the networks widely believed to manage larger flows of money and influence.
The exception came at the end of former prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s tenure, when the tax deposit case – widely described in Iraq as the “heist of the century” – surfaced. At its center was businessman Nour Zuhair, owner of Al-Mubdioun Company.
The judiciary documented how, with the help of advisors and officials, around $3 billion was siphoned from state tax deposit accounts through a network of companies. Even then, the case stood out precisely because it broke from the usual limits.
Just after midnight on 28 June, units from the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) moved alongside representatives of the judiciary and the Integrity Commission to encircle the Green Zone, Baghdad’s heavily fortified international district, with judicial warrants in hand. The operation targeted around 70 individuals, with nearly 47 detained, including more than 16 members of parliament.
It followed the arrest of Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili, whose reported confessions pointed to a network facilitating the movement of funds through official and fictitious contracts, as well as inflated deals across the oil sector.
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