It sparked more popular criticism Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani recently announced the recovery of stolen funds
The issue of the theft of tax insurance funds estimated at approximately $2.5 billion (the theft of the century) has returned to the forefront of Iraqi popular concerns after the Ministry of Finance lifted seizure signals for the main accused in the theft, Nour Zuhair and his wife, in a move that sparked more popular criticism, already skeptical of the authorities’ ability to recover the money. stolen; This is because the orphan amount that Prime Minister Muhammad al-Sudani announced to recover last November was only 182 billion Iraqi dinars (about one million and 200 thousand dollars).
According to the “leaked” official letter issued by the Ministry of Finance and the General Tax Authority and dated June 12, they are asking about 20 government institutions, distributed among ministries, government agencies and banks, to lift the seizure signals on 46 properties owned by the accused, Nour Zuhair, and his wife, Ruaa. Hussein Sabhan, according to the official text of the book. It is noted that the properties for which the seizure is requested to be lifted are distributed in the most prestigious neighborhoods of the capital, Baghdad, and Basra Governorate.
The “theft of the century” case broke out during the era of former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and Zuhair was arrested in October 2022, then released on conditional release to return the stolen money. The judiciary at the time defended the release decision by saying:
“The process of releasing Nour Zuhair, one of those accused of stealing tax deposits, on financial bail, was carried out on the basis of what was stated in the Code of Criminal Procedure after he expressed his willingness to hand over the sums of money owed by his companies and make a financial settlement amounting to more than six hundred trillion.” One billion dinars during a specific period of time. But the amount recovered so far represents only less than one percent of the total amount.
Despite all the confusion that has been going on around the “theft of the century” for months, and despite the intense popular criticism directed at the Iraqi authorities, and despite the latter’s talk about its efforts to recover the stolen amounts, no serious progress has been made so far, and the case is still among the most major thefts surrounded by a thick wall. There is a lack of secrecy and lack of clarity, and there is much talk about the involvement of parties, influential and political groups in the theft, which prevents its circumstances from being revealed.
At the end of last May, former Finance Minister Ali Allawi accused “high-ranking officials” within the government of colluding with the “theft of the century.” But Allawi is also accused of involvement in the case, and last March, he was subject to judicial arrest and investigation warrants against the backdrop of the “theft of the century,” in addition to a memorandum that included the director of the former Prime Minister’s office, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.
Allawi said in what looked like a long, 200-page pleading about the theft: “The first stage of the theft began in early 2021, and involved issuing forged powers of attorney from companies that had real trusts that gave the fake agent the right to collect the trust.” He added: “The second stage included using fake companies to access legitimate tax deposit transactions, while the third, final and largest stage included outright fraud and theft.”
Allawi pointed out that “the perpetrators organized five newly established or neglected companies for the purpose of obtaining tax deposits, and that the Tax Authority issued more than 247 separate instruments for illegal tax deposit recovery transactions for these companies.”
However, the researcher residing in the United States, Riyad Muhammad, noted earlier, while commenting on the “pleading” of the former Finance Minister, that “even though he is safe in London and despite the fact that charges have been brought against him in this theft, he refuses to name the perpetrators and those involved in this scandal as if they were people.” Anonymous.”
Allawi explained that Rafidain Bank “intentionally disbursed the checks in favor of the counterfeit companies after receiving confirmations of the authenticity of the issuance of these checks from the Director General of the Tax Authority,” indicating that “the illegally acquired funds were withdrawn in cash.”
This in its entirety reinforces the common popular convictions that it is not possible to hold those involved accountable or recover the stolen funds, and the process of lifting the seizure of the funds of the accused Nour Zuhair came to reinforce this popular hypothesis, despite the excuses provided by the authorities in this direction, which focus on the issue of “giving the accused the ability to sell his funds, and thus “His ability to return the amounts stolen from him.”