ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Wednesday received Mohammed Ali al-Lami, head of Iraq's Federal Commission of Integrity (FCoI), to discuss strengthening cooperation between Erbil and the Baghdad-based body that has for months been conducting a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown, arresting hundreds of government officials and employees and seizing millions in cash and gold.
The meeting - also attended by the head of Erbil's Commission of Integrity, Ahmed Anwar - focused on “strengthening cooperation and coordination between the Federal Commission of Integrity and the relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region,” according to a statement from the Kurdish presidency.
President Barzani reaffirmed to Lami the Region's “readiness to provide all necessary cooperation” with the Iraqi Commission and judicial authorities to “uphold the law, safeguard the independence of institutions, and preserve the authority of the judiciary,” the statement said.
Lami, in turn, extended his “thanks and appreciation to the relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region for their continued and constructive cooperation” with the FCoI and the relevant federal authorities.
The visit comes months into Operation Dawn, a large-scale anti-corruption campaign launched in late June by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in coordination with the FCoI, under which Iraqi security forces and judicial bodies have conducted dozens of targeted raids across Baghdad and multiple provinces, arresting over 200 individuals from state institutions.
The operation was triggered by testimony from former deputy oil minister Adnan al-Jumaili following his arrest in late May, and quickly swept up senior figures including former deputy oil minister Ali Maarij al-Bahadly and former state electricity company director Ali Hamid al-Zaidi, alongside officials across the ministries of electricity, trade, customs, and agriculture.
The legislative branch was also caught up, with parliamentary immunities revoked to detain sitting and former lawmakers - among them Muthanna al-Samarrai, head of the Sunni Azm Alliance, lawmakers Alia Nassif, Bahaa al-Nouri, Ziyad al-Janabi, and Mohammed al-Karbouli, and former members Mohammed al-Sayhoud and Abdulrahman al-Luwaizi.
Raids further targeted former cabinet advisors, individuals tied to former prime minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani (2022 - 2026), senior defense ministry officers, military engineers implicated in procurement fraud, and regional figures such as former Wasit governor Mohammed al-Mayahi.
In terms of asset recovery, Iraqi authorities have seized tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of billions of Iraqi dinars in cash - including a single recovery of $20.34 million linked to former oil officials - along with over 400 kilograms of gold, more than 200 properties, dozens of luxury vehicles, watches, and caches of arms and ammunition.
In the wake of Operation Dawn, Rudaw learned in early July that Erbil had arrested and handed over at least two Iraqi lawmakers to Baghdad following arrest warrants issued by federal authorities.
Herem Kemal Agha, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc in the Iraqi parliament, then noted that Kurdish politicians were “the least implicated in the corruption cases” uncovered by the anti-corruption crackdown, affirming that the Kurdistan Region “is not at all part of the scourge.”
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