The “theft of the century” again… Iraq is planning to recover the funds and hold them accountable

confirmed the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shiaa Al-Sudani Saturday, the need to intensify efforts by the relevant agencies in the country to recover what is known as corruption money and hold the accused accountable.

The media office of the Prime Minister said in a statement that Al-Sudani chaired a meeting to follow up the process of recovering the accused, convicted and wanted persons in corruption cases, and to recover the money they seized.

top priority

The statement added that Al-Sudani stressed the importance of having this file at the top of the priorities of the agencies concerned with prosecution and recovery, considering that this is evidence for citizens of the government’s seriousness in following up and fighting corruption.

The Prime Minister also stressed the need for Iraq to invest in its foreign diplomatic and economic relations to serve the recovery of looted funds and wanted persons, noting that corruption threatens all government programs.

Al-Sudani pointed out that the serious pursuit of the accused prompted many of them to surrender to justice, and the INTERPOL department prepared ready files for the wanted persons.

“theft of the century”

It is noteworthy that the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, announced at the end of last November that 182 billion dinars had been recovered, or less than 2% of the total stolen amount, as a first batch of the stolen tax money through the first defendant, Nour Zuhair, after his conditional release. .

However, this did not satisfy ordinary citizens who question the soundness of the government’s procedures to recover all the stolen money.

While the government issued new arrest warrants against those accused of stealing tax secretariat funds, or what has become known as the “theft of the century”, which erupted in early October 2022, during the past months.