Iraq to get part of $2.5b embezzled from taxes

Iraq’s government said on Sunday it will recover part of nearly $2.5 billion in funds embezzled from the country’s tax authority in a massive scheme involving businesses and officials.

Approximately 182 billion Iraqi dinars, or $125 million, of the stolen sum will be recovered through the seizure of properties and assets belonging to a well-connected businessman complicit in the corruption scheme, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al Sudani’s office said.

The amount retrieved was disbursed to Noor Zuhair Jassim, a businessman arrested in connection to the scheme along with officials from the government tax authority for withdrawing funds from a tax deposit account between September 2021 to August 2022.

Al Sudani also said the investigation was ongoing and had identified other individuals involved.

Jassim was arrested in late October at Baghdad International Airport. He was named as the CEO of two of five shell companies through which the funds were stolen. According to an internal audit, Jassim obtained over $1 billion from the account. \

Officials say it’s unlikely that an embezzlement scheme of this scale could unfold without the knowledge of higher-ups.