ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court scheduled the trial of detained lawmaker Muthanna al-Samarrai for Monday on corruption charges, according to a judicial document obtained by Rudaw on Wednesday.
“This court has decided to set October 19, 2026, as the date for conducting the trial of the detained defendant (Muthanna Abdul Samad Mohammed Hussein al-Samarrai) pursuant to the provisions of Article (319 of Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended, in conjunction with participation articles 47, 48, and 49 thereof),” the document read.
Samarrai, the head of the Sunni-led Azm alliance - the second-largest Sunni political party within Iraq - and current member of parliament, was arrested in late June.
The trial proceedings come months after Operation Dawn, a large-scale nationwide anti-corruption campaign launched in late June by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in coordination with the Federal Commission of Integrity (FCoI).
Samarrai was one of a couple hundred government officials and employees arrested as authorities carried out dozens of targeted raids across the country under the initiative.
Salwan Akreyi, a member of the Iraqi Parliament, confirmed to Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir on Wednesday that "a verdict regarding the defendants' case is expected to be issued on that very same day."
The judicial document also listed five people as defendants summoned as witnesses, including Adnan al-Jumaili, former Deputy Oil Minister for Refining Affairs.
Jumaili was arrested in late May on charges of embezzling around 200 billion Iraqi dinars ($152 million), an investigation that uncovered a broader network of officials across state institutions and led to the seizure of millions of dollars, gold, vehicles, and real estate titles.
"The value of the funds, assets, or real estate recovered within the framework of the anti-corruption campaign is estimated at over 1.359 trillion dinars (over one billion dollars)," government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi told state media in late August.
Iraq ranked 136th out of 182 countries and territories in Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, scoring 28 out of 100.
