Iraq’s new PM launches anticorruption campaign, but is it enough?
Al-Zaidi leads campaign to combat corruption, seizing $86m cash, properties, vehicles and gold linked to embezzlement cases. But analysts say he needs to do more
Al-Zaidi leads campaign to combat corruption, seizing $86m cash, properties, vehicles and gold linked to embezzlement cases. But analysts say he needs to do more. An unusual wave of anticorruption arrests targeting senior officials in Iraq has resulted in the seizure of tens of millions of dollars – rousing public opinion across the country and bringing renewed attention to the decades-long problem of financial corruption. The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council on Tuesday said cash seized in an investigation into alleged corruption linked to detained Oil Ministry Undersecretary for Refining Affairs Adnan al-Jumaili had risen to about $86m. It added that 70 properties, 21 vehicles and about three kilogrammes (6.6 pounds) of gold jewellery had been seized. The judiciary said the funds were linked to waste in projects said to be carried out by al-Jumaili and others linked to the case. Al-Jumaili – who was also the head of the Iraqi North Refineries Company – was arrested at his home in the town of al-Ishaqi, north of Baghdad, on May 30 as part of the probe. It came days after the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered the investigation of contracts issued by the government in recent years to look for evidence of corruption. The Supreme Judicial Council added that Raed al-Jubouri, the former governor of Salah al-Din governorate – where al-Jumaili is from – was also arrested. Al-Jubouri was the director of health in the governorate at the time of his arrest.
Anticorruption activists have complained that Iraq’s political structure is built around graft, with parties and politicians using their patronage networks and powers to plunder state resources. Iraq was placed 136 out of 182 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2025, with the report noting some improvements in the country’s fight against corruption. But the report did say that “significant structural hurdles” need to be overcome for the situation to dramatically improve, highlighting activists’ complaints about the problem of systemic corruption in Iraq’s political system. Al-Jumaili is the most high-profile government figure to be arrested on corruption charges since Prime Minister al-Zaidi took office on May 16. Alaa Samir al-Jubouri, a leading official in the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, was arrested in Baghdad in June, accused of corruption and wasting public funds. Further, al-Zaidi cancelled the $764m Baghdad international airport development project due to suspected corruption, hinting that the government is taking the issue more seriously. In one of his first decisions as prime minister, al-Zaidi established the Supreme Sovereign Council for Integrity, Oversight and Recovery of Public Funds, a body intended to tackle the problem of corruption in the public sector and procurement processes. It will be presided over by the prime minister himself and is responsible for monitoring ministries, non-ministerial entities and governorates to prevent the waste of public funds and recover state assets. “The Iraqi government and the prime minister regard corruption as one of the gravest challenges threatening the Iraqi state and its political order,” Iraqi government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi said in a recent news conference.
The BriefWire