Convict in Iraq’s ‘heist of the century’ pardoned under controversial Amnesty Law

Case centred on $2.5 billion being taken from Iraq's General Commission for Taxes

The Iraqi parliament. AFP

One of the main convicts in Iraq’s “heist of the century”, in which billions of dollars were stolen from the state, has been pardoned because of recently approved amendments to the country’s Amnesty Law, a document shows.

Haitham Al Jubouri, a former politician, was sentenced to three years in jail in November for his role in plundering billions of dollars from an account held by Iraq's Finance Ministry, a crime that was discovered in late 2022. He was sentenced in absentia and remains at large.

In the document, which surfaced on Tuesday on social media, the Chief Judge of the Central Anti-corruption Criminal Court, Khalid Saddam, requests that the court informs parliament and the cabinet that it is “permanently suspending all legal proceedings” against Al Jubouri.

In his request, dated February 19, Judge Saddam stated that the convict is “covered” by the Amnesty Law, which was amended in January. The latest amendments could lead to pardons for thousands of prisoners, even those convicted of attacks on US soldiers and people who fought for ISIS.

Officials at the Iraq Supreme Judiciary Council were not immediately available to comment on the authenticity of the document. However, a source close to the Judiciary Council confirmed it. The case, which has captivated the public for two years, concerned about $2.5 billion being taken from Iraq's General Commission for Taxes, a department of the Ministry of Finance.

The money was fraudulently paid to five companies by the commission using 247 cheques between September 2021 and August 2022. The funds were taken from the commission's account at the state-run Rafidain Bank, a government investigation found.

It was deposited by trading companies and people as a guarantee to pay taxes after finishing projects commissioned by the government or importing goods. Those who deposited the money could later apply to withdraw what was left, after tax was deducted.

The Iraqi dinar was devalued in December last year to ease a liquidity crisis. Reuters

Shortly after the case was announced in October 2022 by Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, who was Iraq’s acting finance minister and oil minister, the mastermind of the heist, businessman Noor Zuhair Jassim, was arrested at Baghdad International Airport as he attempted to leave the country on a private jet.

He later admitted to stealing 1.618 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.23 billion) and returned 182 billion dinars. He was released on bail after an agreement was reached with the court to return the full amount. However, he later left Iraq and remains at large.

Mr Jassim was sentenced to 10 years in November, and the court also sentenced Judge Raid Juhi, who presided over Saddam Hussein's trial, and was a director of former prime minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi's office, to six years in prison. Ten more employees were sentenced to six years, including a former general director of the General Commission for Taxes, and his deputy.

The court also ordered the confiscation of assets belonging to Mr Jassim, Mr Juhi and Mr Al Jubouri, and was in the process of asking Interpol to help track down the three men. It is still unclear if others will be pardoned.

Also on Tuesday, the Federal Integrity Commission announced that Iraqi courts had convicted 318 people of corruption-related charges in January. In a statement on its anti-corruption efforts in January, the Commission also said that 32 juridical arrest warrants and summoning orders had been issued against high-ranking officials. Twenty suspects have been arrested, it added.

Corruption has been rife in Iraq under successive governments elected after the US-led invasion of 2003, which toppled the dictator Saddam Hussein. Billions of dollars given to the government for reconstruction were misused by authorities.

In 2007, a former head of the Integrity Commission, Radhi Hamza Al Radhi, told the US Congress after fleeing Iraq that $18 billion was missing. The figure may be as high as $320 billion, according to Iraq’s Parliamentary Transparency Commission.

Iraq is considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It ranked 140 out of 180 nations on Transparency International’s 2024 corruption index.