‘Heist of the century’: how $2.5bn was plundered from Iraqi state funds

The Freedom monument in Tahrir Square, Baghdad. The scheme was allegedly masterminded by a well-connected businessman and executed by employees in the tax commission. Photograph: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty

Iraqis have called it “the heist of the century” – a brazen multibillion-dollar plundering of state coffers that has gripped the country.

The theft of $2.5bn was apparently facilitated by some of the highest offices in the land, according to sources and a series of government letters issued in the summer of 2021. The documents, signed by various government institutions including the then prime minister’s office, cancelled the audit of withdrawals from the Iraqi tax commission’s accounts.