ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Monday ordered the establishment of a recovery fund to collect and hold public assets recovered from corrupt officials.
The move is part of an expanded anti-corruption campaign, dubbed Operation Dawn, launched over the weekend that has so far led to the arrest of 21 suspects, including senior officials and politicians.
Munir Haddad, a prominent Iraqi judge and legal advisor to Prime Minister Zaidi, told Rudaw's Ziyad Ismail that “those accused of stealing public funds and looting Iraq's wealth are being prosecuted under the Iraqi Penal Code, including the Anti-Money Laundering Law and laws governing crimes against public property.”
He pledged that “neither the judiciary nor the government will stop at recovering the stolen funds,” emphasizing that the Baghdad government remains “committed to fighting corruption and holding the corrupt to account.”
“No one will be spared, regardless of their position or status,” he said.
Since Operation Dawn began on Sunday, some $75 million in cash has reportedly been seized, along with at least 40 luxury properties, land tracts, and large weapons caches across the country.
Iraqi lawmaker Noor Adel al-Atabi called for a sweeping purge of state institutions.
“Let them cleanse every state institution - let them begin with us [parliamentarians],” she told Rudaw, expressing hope that “this campaign is carried through to the very end and that a lasting solution is reached, so the Iraqi people can finally see the light.”
For his part, Iraqi government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said on Monday that the anti-corruption campaign “will not stop” and that “the confessions made by the suspects are leading to other networks involving names and financial assets.”
The campaign “is different from previous ones,” the senior government official said, underscoring Baghdad's “commitment to safeguarding public funds” and its “comprehensive vision in managing challenges, institutional reform, and combating corruption.”
