The Iraqi Integrity Commission announced, on Thursday, that diplomatic efforts have resulted in the recovery of one of the suspects in the major theft of tax trusts, which became known in Iraqi political and media circles under the name of the “heist of the century”.
The Commission added that the suspect was charged with complicity with one of the most prominent persons involved in the theft of tax secretariats, by providing facilitations to fictitious foreign companies, and organizing a fake waiver from these companies to the main suspect in the case, leading to the theft of more than 3 trillion Iraqi dinars, or about USD2.5 billion.
At least $2.5 billion was stolen between September 2021 and August 2022 through 247 cheques that were cashed by five companies. The money was then withdrawn in cash from these companies’ accounts, most of whose owners were on the run.
The statement stressed that diplomatic efforts deployed by the Iraqi prime minister at the local and foreign levels have helped the country to recover the convicts and the smuggled funds, pointing to the recent arrest of convicts, who were extradited by the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman.
The commission announced the opening of two accounts in the Rafidain Bank, in dinars and US dollars, in order to deposit the seized amounts, including the stolen tax trusts.
According to informed sources, the suspect, who was recovered from Amman, is Iraqi businessman Ahmed Al-Sarraf.
The heist of the century was uncovered at the end of the term of former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government.
The former Minister of Finance, Ali Abdul Amir Allawi, issued a document of about 120 pages, in which he spoke in detail about the theft scandal – the biggest in the post-2003 period.
