Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said on Friday it is coordinating with Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi's government on a legal framework that would ease judicial measures against corruption suspects who voluntarily return stolen public funds.

The proposal would apply the same mechanism used in the high-profile Tax Deposits case —known in Iraq as "Theft of the Century"— under which reduced penalties were linked to the recovery of state money.

Read more: "Theft of the Century" pushes Iraq’s political crisis to the brink

The council noted that the framework could also be applied to suspects in the North Refineries Company case, including detained businessman Adnan al-Jumaili, provided the alleged offences were committed before amendments to Iraq's Amnesty Law took effect and the defendants repay the money owed to the affected government institution. For offences committed after the amended law entered into force, suspects would not qualify for amnesty and would instead face different legal procedures.

The judiciary added that the initiative seeks to achieve two objectives: recovering public funds and encouraging suspects to return the money voluntarily in exchange for reduced judicial measures.

The council used the Tax Deposits case to explain the proposed approach. It said companies, including Al-Qanit and Al-Mubdioun, owned by convicted businessman Nour Zuhair, illegally withdrew tax deposit funds belonging to foreign companies with the assistance of employees at Iraq's General Commission for Taxes.

Under an agreement reached between the judiciary and the previous government, Zuhair was released on bail after agreeing to repay the money in installments in exchange for a reduced sentence. Authorities recovered 365 billion Iraqi dinars (about $279M) from more than 1.618 trillion dinars (about $1.24B) owed by his companies, part of more than 3.831 trillion dinars (about $2.92B) allegedly withdrawn from Rafidain Bank through multiple companies.

After Zuhair left Iraq and stopped making payments, the judiciary referred his case to the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court, which sentenced him in absentia to 10 years in prison and requested an INTERPOL notice for his arrest.

The council said Zuhair has since applied to benefit from amendments to Iraq's Amnesty Law by completing repayment of the remaining funds. The request remains pending until the Finance Ministry, as the injured party, agrees on a repayment mechanism.

Read more: Beyond "Innocent People": unpacking Iraq's New Amnesty Law

The judiciary also said courts had convicted 12 tax authority employees and several other defendants for facilitating the fraud, confiscating assets and properties in Iraq and Kuwait linked to those convicted. Other officials, including the former prime minister's office director and advisers, were sentenced in absentia, while the investigation involving the prime minister who was in office when the fraud occurred was closed due to insufficient evidence.

Last month, Iraq launched Operation “Dawn Crackdown” under Al-Zaidi’s direction. It led to more than 67 arrests in its first 24 hours, while its initial phase is expected to target more than 200 suspects.

Read more: Iraq detains top officials in anti-corruption sweep