Iraq investigates disappearance of $140 billion in state funds

Iraq's Public Prosecution has opened a judicial investigation into the suspected disappearance of $140 billion in state revenues, following a formal complaint filed by a member of parliament's Legal Committee.

According to official documents obtained by Shafaq News, lawmaker Mohammed Jasim al-Khafaji submitted the complaint on June 27 to the head of the Public Prosecution, requesting a formal investigation based on recorded statements by former Finance Ministry Undersecretary Masoud Haider, in which he said he did not know how $140 billion in Iraqi revenues had been spent over three years.

Iraqi security forces have detained at least 47 people in the first 24 hours of the Dawn Crackdown, an anti-corruption campaign that began June 28, according to the preliminary figures published by the government, which has not identified those held. Sources within the Commission of Integrity, Iraq's federal anti-corruption body, put the number detained at 67 and said it would surpass 200 within weeks.

The government has released no cumulative count since its initial total, and arrests have continued through the reporting period. The figures below cover enforcement from June 28 through July 11 and are drawn from reporting compiled by Shafaq News. They are not a final tally.

The only detainee named by the government is Adnan Al-Jumaili, a former undersecretary at the Oil Ministry, arrested in May, whose testimony investigators say opened the path to dozens of the current arrests.

Nineteen detainees have been identified as high-ranking officials: 14 current or former members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, the country's national parliament; two officials from the Oil Ministry or state-linked oil companies; one former government adviser; and two individuals holding no government position.

By Vafa Guliyeva