Iraq sentences Noor Zuhair, 12 others in $2.5 Billion corruption case

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi court has sentenced Noor Zuhair Jassim, the major actor in Iraq’s notorious “Heist of the Century” corruption case, to ten years in jail in absentia and has initiated legal steps to gain his extradition via Arab and international law enforcement agencies.

The tribunal also sentenced 12 former tax authority workers to jail for their roles in assisting the theft.

The case is considered Iraq’s worst corruption scandal in modern history, involving the theft of around $2.5 billion from tax authority accounts between September 2021 and August 2022.

In late 2022, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance conducted an inquiry that exposed the fraud.

Jassim, who ran an oil services firm at the time, was apprehended at Baghdad International Airport in October 2022 while trying to flee the country soon after the scandal was revealed.

He was eventually freed on bond after collaborating with investigators and admitting to embezzling more than $1.1 billion, which allowed police to recover a portion of the stolen monies.

However, the majority of the money remains missing.

The judiciary said that it has drafted an extradition case to seek Jassim’s return from overseas; however, authorities have not publicly divulged his present whereabouts.

The verdict comes as Prime Minister Ali Falih Al-Zaidi intensifies his anti-corruption drive, with authorities chasing top officials, seizing public assets, and increasing attempts to bring high-profile corruption suspects to court.