The Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) announced that it has uncovered a corruption scheme involving fraud and embezzlement of funds allocated to victims of the Islamic State (ISIS) totaling nearly one trillion Iraqi dinars ($760 million).
According to Iraqi official media, a three-month investigation led to the arrest of more than 30 suspects, including senior officials in several government agencies, including the Pensions Fund and the Martyrs Foundation.
The suspects in the case, which took place in the Anbar governorate, forged transfers for pensions using fabricated identities and credit card data, in addition to trafficking in confidential data.
Official media said the embezzled funds amounted to more than one trillion and 32 billion Iraqi dinars.
ISIS seized parts of Iraq in 2014, and controlled nearly a third of its territory before being routed and declared defeated in the country by the end of 2017.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has said that one of his priorities is to combat corruption that is rampant in Iraqi state institutions, which has led to the theft of billions of dollars of its oil wealth over the years.
Critics say that anti-corruption campaigns carried out by Iraqi authorities have been largely ineffective, and that the government has failed to hold corrupt officials to account.
