According to a statement from the Interior Ministry, Iraqi security forces have arrested a businessman accused of being involved in a case of “stealing” $2.5 billion in tax revenue when he tried to leave Iraq.
The case, which hit the media in mid-October, sparked widespread controversy in oil-rich Iraq, but it is plagued by chronic corruption. Interior Minister Osman al-Ghanimi said in a statement that “Nur Zuhair Jassim was arrested at Baghdad International Airport as he tried to leave the country in a private jet.” For its part, the Government Commission on Integrity said in a statement on Monday that the suspect is “an authorized director of (Al-Mabdiun) Oil Services Company Limited” and he is “one of the defendants in the case of amounts of tax deposits deposited in Rafidain branches Bank.
The official letter released by the Internal Revenue Service reveals that between September 2021 and August 2022, US$2.5 billion was withdrawn from the Rafidain State Bank through 247 financial instruments issued to 5 companies that paid them directly in cash. Earlier, the judiciary heard statements from a number of tax officials in this regard, and also issued arrest warrants for the owners of companies accused of withdrawing funds. Iraq ranks 157th (out of 180) in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. And often, if cases of corruption do occur, lawsuits are held against officials holding secondary positions. “Rampant corruption is the root cause of dysfunction in Iraq,” Jenine Plaschart, the UN’s representative in Iraq, said in early October, adding: “Frankly, no leader can claim to be immune from it.”
