Iraqi Officials Use Five-Star Hotel Projects to Launder Millions
This troubling trend is raising alarm bells among citizens. In a country still grappling with poverty, unemployment, and underdeveloped infrastructure, the sudden emergence of lavish hotels in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces has left Iraqis asking one simple question:Where did the money come from?
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — A growing number of five-star hotels are being built across Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, but behind the luxury facades lies a deep and dangerous truth: Iraqi political officials are allegedly using these projects as the latest vehicles to launder public funds and conceal widespread corruption.
According to a senior Iraqi official who spoke to Kurdistan24 on the condition of anonymity, the so-called hotel investments are just a continuation of a long-running scheme. “Previously, they used NGOs, women’s beauty salons, and resettlement units to whitewash the money they earned through their control of government institutions and government revenues. Now, they’ve turned to five-star hotels,” the official said. “If an investigation were ever conducted into these hotel dossiers, the scale of corruption uncovered would be staggering.”
Economic analyst Abbas Imran from Baghdad added that money laundering has become increasingly visible in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, which has become a hotspot for suspicious economic activity. “We’re seeing hotels pop up daily—each worth tens of millions of dollars. But no one knows who approved them, or why they are being built in unsuitable locations for actual hotel use,” he told Kurdistan24 correspondent in Baghdad.
Another watchdog, Ahmed Ala, noted that many of these projects are modeled after Western luxury standards but lack basic transparency or economic justification. “Iraq doesn’t even need this many hotels. The real purpose behind these constructions is questionable. There’s no oversight, especially in the investment sector, and the government is complicit through its silence,” he said.
This troubling trend is raising alarm bells among citizens. In a country still grappling with poverty, unemployment, and underdeveloped infrastructure, the sudden emergence of lavish hotels in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces has left Iraqis asking one simple question: Where did the money come from?
A System Built on Corruption
The Kurdistan Region has long warned of the deep-seated corruption within the federal government in Baghdad, which not only refuses to send constitutionally mandated budget shares to Erbil but also allows billions of dinars to vanish into the pockets of political elites. These elites, shielded by their positions and party affiliations, have turned Iraq into a money-laundering haven, using major projects like hotels to hide their crimes under a veil of development.
While the Kurdistan Region strives for transparency and good governance—despite challenges posed by Baghdad—politicians in Iraq’s capital continue to betray the Iraqi people by abusing their power for personal enrichment.
As these fraudulent hotel projects multiply, so do the frustrations of ordinary Iraqis who watch their future vanish brick by brick into gilded monuments of theft.
Kurdistan24 correspondent in Baghdad, Saif Ali, contributed to this report.
