In 2021, President Barham Salih stated that US$150 billion of oil money had been stolen and smuggled out of Iraq in corrupt deals since the 2003 U.S.
[9] In an Al Jazeera investigation, residents of Harthiya, a neighborhood in Baghdad alleged severe corruption in the construction sector.
[13] In March 2023, Iraq's former Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi claimed in an interview that corruption cost the country US$600 billion between 2003 and mid-2020.
[18] The higher Shiite leader at the time, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, even called for the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to take a strong stance against corruption.
[19] Corruption in Iraq and subsequent ongoing protests of 2018 and 2019 resulted in then resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi on November 30, 2019.
[21] The special commission was placed under the authority of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and headed by Lieutenant General Ahmed Taha Abu Ragheef.
[22] The Iraqi Prime Minister accepted the resignation and nominated Judge Haider Hanoun Zayer to head the commission.
[24] In October 2022, the Federal Commission of Integrity announced it started an investigation on a theft of 3.7 trillion Iraqi dinars ($2.5 billion).
[25] According to several publications based on the declaration of the Iraqi Finance Ministry, the money was reportedly transferred from the account of a governmental agency held by the Rafidain Bank to 5 companies in 2021 and 2022.
[27] According to him, one of the businessmen involved in the scandal Nour Zouhair Jassem, who admitted received a part of the funds, gave back around US$125 million.
In November 2024, Iraq's anti-corruption agency began an inquiry after an audio recording emerged, allegedly showing prime ministerial aide Abdel Karim Al-Faisal accepting a bribe.