Iraqi investigators have seized $11 million and four billion Iraqi dinars (just over $3 million) in cash from the home of Ali Maarij Al Bahadly, the Deputy Minister of Oil for Distribution Affairs, in an anti-corruption crackdown, the country's Supreme Judiciary Council has announced.
In a statement issued late on Monday, the presiding judge of the Central Criminal Court for Corruption said the cash was discovered during “initial investigations” of the detained minister.
“The investigations are still ongoing,” the judge added, without revealing further details of items seized or whether any arrests of associates had followed.
Pictures released by the Judiciary Council show investigators using a drill hammer to break through a wall in a swimming pool building.
A rectangular hole is visible in the wall and concrete debris is scattered near the blue-tiled edge of the empty pool. Multiple open suitcases are filled with tightly bundled banknotes in dollars and dinar, as well as retail boxes including one for Rolex displaying a gold-toned wristwatch inside.
It is of the largest disclosed cash seizures in Iraq’s anti-corruption campaign, which Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi has said is “only in the first phase” after a wave of high-profile detentions across ministries and state organisations.
Case against Al Bahadly
As Deputy Minister of Oil for Distribution, Mr Al Bahadly oversees the allocation and sale of refined fuel products inside Iraq. The portfolio is considered highly sensitive because it deals directly with private fuel traders, distribution companies and provincial quotas.
According to the Judiciary Council, he is under arrest and facing proceedings in the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court in Baghdad. The court specialises in financial crime cases involving senior officials and has been central to the government’s effort to demonstrate that “no one is above accountability”.
The seizure of cash and multiple property holdings points to allegations of illicit accumulation on a significant scale.
Al Bahadly's detention is the latest in a series of arrests and asset seizures that began after Mr Al Zaidi took power in May. The government has reported the recovery of billions of dinars, the seizure of properties in Baghdad and abroad, and multiyear prison sentences for several officials.
Analysts say the drive aims to address public anger over endemic corruption, which global anti-corruption movement Transparency International ranks as one of Iraq’s most pressing government problems. There is pressure from international partners, including the US, to show measurable progress.
However, observers have cautioned that previous campaigns lost momentum once they reached politically connected networks.
Harith Hasan, a researcher at the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies think tank, told The National that efforts often stop when the political costs rise and that enforcement has been selective, not consistent.
“I would expect the campaign to stop once pursuing it further begins to carry significant political, security, or systemic costs. For now, however, there are indications that additional arrests may still be forthcoming,” Mr Hasan said.
US Treasury sanctions
Mr Al Bahadly is not a new name in international accountability drives. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated him under corruption-related allegations. It has accused him of using his position to divert Iraqi oil and blend it with Iranian oil to help Iran evade US sanctions.
Sanctions typically freeze any US-linked assets and prohibit American nationals and organisations from doing business with the designated individual. The Treasury has previously described Mr Al Bahadly’s role as enabling “significant corruption” in Iraq’s energy sector.
The US designation has added international attention to the domestic case. Iraqi officials have not said whether the seized cash relates to assets previously flagged by Washington, or whether judicial co-operation with US authorities is under way.
