ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A former Iraqi oil official and a former lawmaker have each been sentenced to seven years in prison over illicit enrichment, Iraq’s federal Commission of Integrity announced Sunday, in addition to court orders to repay millions of dollars in illicit gains and subsequent fines equivalent to the amounts involved.
Ali Maarij al-Bahadly, a former deputy oil minister for distribution affairs who is under US sanctions, was convicted of “the crime of illicit enrichment” by Baghdad’s Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court, the Commission said in a statement.
"The ruling includes ordering the convict to return the value of the illicit gains, totaling 4,732,840,000 Iraqi dinars [$3.61 million] and $16,560,318,” it added.
It also ordered the seizure of his “movable and immovable assets,” including funds, gold jewelry, vehicles and real estate. The Commission said it has the right to seek compensation for damages once the verdict becomes final.
Bahadly was among those arrested during an anti-corruption campaign launched by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in late June. The campaign had netted more than $1 billion and led to the arrest of more than 200 current and former government officials, lawmakers and politicians as of Sunday.
The former oil official was already under US sanctions for what Washington described as “his instrumental” role in facilitating “the diversion of oil to be sold for the benefit of the Iranian regime and its proxy militias in Iraq.”
In a separate case, the Commission announced the conviction of former parliament member Talal al-Zoba’ie, who was also sentenced to seven years in prison by the same court.
Zoba’ie, who was arrested in Baghdad in mid-July, was convicted of “illicit enrichment and wealth inflation amounts to nearly 35 billion Iraqi dinars [around $27 million],” according to the commission.
The court ordered the former MP “to return the value of the illicit gains, totaling 5,544,969,000 Iraqi dinars [around $4 million] and $22,168,901” while imposing “a fine equal to that value.”
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