ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three oil projects in Nineveh province are among files being investigated by federal authorities in connection with a corruption case involving former deputy oil minister Adnan al-Jumaili, a provincial official said Tuesday.
Mohammed Kakai, head of the security committee of the Nineveh Provincial Council, told Rudaw's Hastyar Qadir on Tuesday that the council had been informed that several files are under investigation on suspicion of corruption related to oil sector projects in the province.
Kakai said the files include the Hammam al-Alil refinery project, launched as part of the Nineveh Refinery Project in July 2025 by former Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani, as well as other contracts in Qayyarah and Ain Zalah, two of Nineveh’s key oil-producing areas.
The investigations come amid unmet public infrastructure gaps such as frequent power outages, unemployment, delayed salary payments, and deteriorating public services.
Investigations are being conducted as part of the Iraqi government’s anti-corruption campaign known as “Operation Dawn,” initiated by Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi who ordered the launch of security forces to carry out large-scale operations in Baghdad and other provinces early Sunday morning. Arrests include over 21 officials, including al-Jumaili, for the embezzlement of 200 billion dinars ($152 million).
The files are linked to contracts signed during Adnan al-Jumaili’s tenure as deputy oil minister for refining affairs, Kakai said.
According to information obtained by Rudaw, most of the alleged corruption in the case is related to contracts involving public and private refineries.
On Monday, Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council announced the seizure of large sums of cash and properties during an ongoing corruption investigation involving the deputy minister of oil for distribution affairs, Ali Maarij al-Bahadly, who was sanctioned by the US in May.
Preliminary investigations resulted in the seizure of “a large amount of cash” amounting to "$11 million US dollars and four billion Iraqi dinars ($3 million) in addition to the seizure of several properties,” an investigating judge from the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court said in a statement on Monday.
