Iraqi authorities have seized more than 825 pounds of gold and ten of millions in cash in a series of anti-corruption operations that led to the arrest of at least 21 people, including dozens of government officials and several former and current members of parliament.
The seizures were connected to the arrest in May of a former deputy oil minister, Adnan Al-Jumaili, on suspicion of corruption.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi, who took up the role in May, has vowed to tackle graft in the country. But the mission won’t be easy, a government official who asked to remain anonymous told CBS News.
The number of implicated officials and the piles of confiscated gold and cash in U.S. dollars and Iraqi dinar, as well as vehicles and homes seized in the operation, shows the scale of graft in the country. And this probe only related to one sector: oil.
“The latest campaign was unexpected,” said the official, not only because it came soon into Al-Zaidi’s tenure, but also because many previous prime ministers have paid lip-service to tackling corruption without actually doing so.
“It came as a surprise to all involved and it will continue to include corruption cases in other sectors.”
Ahmed Saad / REUTERS
An investigative judge at Iraq’s Central Anti-Corruption Court, Diaa Jaafar, told the Iraqi News Agency that 790 pounds of gold was recovered in one operation and 37 pounds in another. He provided no additional details of the operations.
The gold has been handed back to the country’s central bank, Jaafar added.
The seizure follows another operation related to the oil ministry last Thursday in which Iraqi dinar worth $10.6 million was found in a rainwater drainage pit.
A spokesperson for the Iraqi government, Haider al-Aboudi, told Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera that the total funds seized in the al-Jumaili case were worth more than $96 million, plus another $24 million in real estate, vehicles and gold.
“The Iraqi street is looking forward to punishing those who wreaked havoc with public money, and violated its sanctity, as it is the money of all Iraqis,” he said.
Al-Aboudi told Al Jazeera that Iraq has prepared legal documents to extradite several hundred suspects living abroad as part of the anti-corruption push.
Disarming Iranian-backed militias
Al Zaidi met with President Trump in the Oval Office Tuesday to discuss investment opportunities for American companies in Iraqi infrastructure and energy, as well as the Iraqi plan to disarm the country’s Iran-backed militias by Sep. 21 and the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by Sep. 30.
Ahead of the meeting, in response to a shouted question about his message for the Iraqi people, Mr. Trump responded: “We love Iraq.”
Evan Vucci / REUTERS
Iranian-backed militias have been a challenge for successive Iraqi governments for over two decades.
Some of the more hardline groups have already rejected calls to lay down their arms. Several of them have targeted U.S. diplomatic missions and forces in the country and the region.
In a statement on Monday, Kuwait’s foreign ministry condemned the Iranian government and its allies in Iraqi militias for “attacks that targeted a number of border centers and an offshore drilling platform belonging to the Kuwait Oil Company, resulting in human injuries and material losses.”
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both also made similar claims about Iraq-based militias.