Yesterday , Monday, the Iraqi judiciary issued an in absentia prison sentence for a number of defendants accused of stealing tax deposits, known in the media as the “theft of the century,” including the first defendant, Nour Zuhair, and a former MP .
According to a judicial source “The Karkh Criminal Court for Combating Corruption settled the cases related to the theft of (tax deposits), and issued sentences of ten years in prison against the accused Nour Zuhair, six years in prison against the accused Raed Juhi, and a number of employees involved in the crime, and three years in prison against the former member of the House of Representatives, Haitham Al-Jubouri .”
In 2022, it was announced that more than 3 trillion Iraqi dinars ($2.5 billion) were lost from tax deposits, through a coalition of 5 oil companies using fictitious bonds .
Following this, an order was issued to summon officials close to former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, including Finance Minister Ali Allawi, Director of the Prime Minister’s Office Raed Juhi, and others .
On October 24, 2022, Nour Zuhair was arrested, as he heads the board of directors of one of the companies involved in the case, and was later released on bail, after Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced the recovery of 5% of the amount, in exchange for Nour Zuhair’s pledge to hand over all the stolen amounts within days .
The Anti-Corruption Court set August 14, 2024 as the date for Nour Zuhair’s trial, but the trial was postponed several times due to the defendant’s absence.
