Iraqi authorities arrested Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadly, a US-sanctioned official accused of using his post to help Iran-linked networks smuggle oil.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said initial questioning of al-Bahadly led to the seizure of $11 million and 4 billion Iraqi dinars, about $3 million, as well as several properties. It said investigations were continuing.
Al-Bahadly was arrested before dawn on Sunday at his home in Baghdad’s upscale Zayouna district. Later, state media published images showing security forces pulling bags of cash from inside the walls of the house.
From politics to oil
Al-Bahadly entered Iraq’s oil sector in the early years after 2003, working as head of drilling operations at the Maysan oil fields authority. He later became director general and chairman of Maysan Oil Company.
His career also reflected shifting political loyalties. He won a parliamentary seat in 2014 with the State of Law Coalition and chaired parliament’s oil and energy committee.
He later moved toward the Reconstruction and Development coalition led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, which backed him for the oil ministry before he hit a US veto and, later, arrest.
The US Treasury Department sanctioned al-Bahadly in May under Executive Order 13902.
Washington accused him of using his position to facilitate oil smuggling for Iran-linked networks by falsifying certificates of origin, mixing Iranian oil with Iraqi oil and exporting it.
It also accused him of providing financial support to sanctioned figures and groups, including smuggler Salim Ahmed Said and the Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction.
Accountability
A former Oil Ministry official told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Bahadly “works within an integrated system in which most of the powerful, dominant political forces take part while remaining beyond accountability.”
The former official, who asked not to be named, did not clear al-Bahadly of corruption allegations.
But he said any serious fight against corruption would have to strike at “the powerful parties under whose protection and umbrella some officials in the Oil Ministry and other ministries operate.”
Observers see “US fingerprints” behind the pursuit of senior Oil Ministry officials, including deputy ministers Adnan al-Jumaili who was arrested recently.
Analysts say Washington views Baghdad’s latest “anti-corruption” campaign as a way to contain Iranian influence and a necessary step toward dismantling it.
Public support for the campaign is broad. But some Iraqis fear its momentum could fade, and that authorities may avoid the “big heads” that are widely blamed for corruption across Iraq over the past two decades.
On the street, Iraqis remain stunned by the methods corruption suspects allegedly used to hide cash, from underground pits to sealed rooms that security forces had to break open to reach the money.
Observers are also struck by the scale of the sums allegedly stolen and by the failure of oversight bodies to uncover them in recent years. Many believe what has emerged so far is only a tiny fraction of the public money looted.
Prison sentences
In the latest corruption cases, the Supreme Judicial Council said on Tuesday that the Diyala Criminal Court sentenced three people to 10 years in prison for embezzling funds allocated to compensate martyrs and people wounded in terrorist attacks.
It said the convicts exploited their jobs at the Diyala governorate office to issue 301 fake checks and transfer money from the compensation account to the governorate office’s operating advances account.
In other developments, authorities released former lawmaker Mohammed al-Sayhood on bail on Tuesday.
Sayhood, a cousin of former PM al-Sudani, was arrested on Sunday as part of a wider campaign targeting lawmakers and officials over suspected corruption.
A security source said he was released for health reasons.
