Iraq announces retrieval of ‘second batch’ of scandalous stolen tax funds  

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi government announced on Sunday that it had retrieved over 91 million USD from the stolen tax funds that had caused a public outcry across the country. 

This is the second tranche of the stolen money that has been retrieved since late November, in which Prime Minister Mohammad Shia’ Al-Sudani announced that 125 million USD had been seized for the first time, according to a statement from the premier’s office.

A total of 200 million USD has been retrieved so far from the stolen 2.5 billion USD of the tax authority, according to the government. 

Ravaged by endemic corruption, the scandal has caused a widespread public outcry in Iraq over the theft, which is believed to have been committed between September and August of 2021.

The government has already issued arrest warrants for the owners of those accounts, from which the funds were withdrawn, but most of the suspects have been on run so far.

The premier last month announced that one of the implicated businessmen, named Nour Zuhair Jassem, was released on bail to return back the stolen money, which has been dubbed “the heist of the century”. The man was given a two-week period to recover the money. 

Jassem was arrested in October at Baghdad International Airport when he attempted to escape the country on a private jet, the interior ministry announced previously.

"The most important thing is the return of the funds. What does it matter if so and so is in prison if the ($2.5 billion) is not in the state's coffers?” Al-Sudani argued in November.

"We will spare no one," he added, asking those that had been involved in the scandal to recover the money.