Raed Juhy, residing in the United States, has been charged with aiding the escape of the accused in the case, Diaa Al-Moussawi, and failing to execute an arrest warrant.
The Iraqi judiciary has issued an absentia sentence to Raed Juhy, former head of the office of the previous Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, sentencing him to prison and seizing his assets in the case known as the "Theft of the Century" concerning the embezzlement of tax funds. The verdict specifies the seizure of both his movable and immovable assets due to his alleged facilitation of the escape of accused Diaa Al-Moussawi and his failure to execute the arrest warrant.
Al-Moussawi, a former Iraqi intelligence officer, surrendered to justice in the case after a special pursuit was issued against him by the recovery department of the Iraqi Integrity Commission in 2022. The theft involved approximately $2.5 billion of tax funds and is linked to Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, who has previously denied any connection to the embezzlement and stated that he was the first to order the opening of this file.
Al-Moussawi has been accused of corruption-related crimes, including oil smuggling, abuse of his official position, and facilitating the illegal transfer of funds abroad. While this case has yet to reveal all of its secrets, it has shed light on the pervasive corruption that has plagued Iraq and its state institutions since the 2003 U.S. invasion, compounded by the dominance of Shiite parties close to Iran. Current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has stated that he is personally monitoring the file and that the state has managed to recover part of the embezzled funds.
The investigative committee relied on civil aviation records indicating that Khalaf Marwan, Juhy’s secretary and one of the suspects in the case, was accompanying the primary suspect, businessman Noor Zahir Jasim, and General Diaa Al-Moussawi during flights on Jassim's private plane over the past two years.
Juhy, who has held various positions within the Iraqi state, including as president of investigation judges in the High Criminal Court and as a former inspector general for the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, is now being pursued after the Integrity Commission issued red notices and arrest warrants against him abroad, following coordination with Interpol and Arab police forces. He is living in voluntary exile in the United States.
The judiciary has also issued arrest orders against former Finance Minister Abdul Amir Allawi, MP Abbas, a political advisor to the previous Prime Minister, and Ahmed Najad, Al-Kadhimi's personal secretary.
With the ruling against Juhy, Al-Kadhimi seems to be in a predicament if the accusations against several senior members of his team during his premiership are proven true, as the acts of theft occurred during his term and allegedly with the assistance of his office officials, who are believed to have unlawfully benefited from these operations.
Experts and observers of corruption files in Iraq note that if the suspects in the Theft of the Century scandal were low-ranking officials distant from the centers of power or in local state agencies, Al-Kadhimi could have avoided embarrassment and blame or even accountability while waiting for the arrests of the wanted individuals and the revelations that future investigations may uncover.
Al-Sudani has pledged since assuming the premiership, succeeding Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, to prioritize the fight against corruption, but American reports have expressed skepticism about his ability to keep these commitments, noting that while Al-Sudani may be clean, he may not be able to combat the barons of corruption.
