Phase 1FAILED
The forgery
June–Aug 2021
Fake refund claims in the names of real multinationals (CPECC, Lukoil), built on a forged notarised power of attorney. Blocked by bank staff who insisted the money go only to the named companies' accounts.
Mechanics
How the Money Was Stolen
The full mechanism: from the first forgery to the open tap, then to cash.
1 · Overview
The three phases
Phase 2SUCCEEDED
The transfer trick
Sept–Oct 2021
The "refund right" of CPECC was transferred — on the same forged PoA — to a local shell, al-Qanit. Cheque 23253 (IQD 44.13bn) cashed on 9 September 2021. Still passed through GCT formal channels.
Phase 3THE BULK
The open tap
Sept 2021 – Aug 2022
No files, no records, no process: cheques written directly to five shells and confirmed to the bank by the GCT's own leadership. 247 cheques, IQD 3.7 trillion.
2 · The circuit
The cheque circuit — nine steps
Step 1 · GCT depts
A "refund transaction" for one of the five companies is created with the deputy DG's signature — no underlying file.
Source:
3 · The shells
The five companies
al-Qanit
- Established
- — (file 9477)
- Declared capital
- IQD 5m
- Managing director
- Nour Zuhair Jassim (registrar); bank signatory Mohammad Falah Abdullah
- Rafidain account
- 3505, al-Wazireya (7 Sep 2021)
- Cashed (IQD)
- 1,192,372,500,000
- Cheques
- 80
- Tax deposits held
- None
al-Mubdioon
- Established
- 29 Mar 2006 (dormant)
- Declared capital
- IQD 10m
- Managing director
- Nour Zuhair Jassim
- Rafidain account
- 10139, al-Hay al-Arabi (28 Oct 2021)
- Cashed (IQD)
- 431,750,000,000
- Cheques
- 35
- Tax deposits held
- None
al-Hoot al-Ahdab
- Established
- 6 Jul 2021
- Declared capital
- IQD 1m
- Managing director
- Abdul Mahdi Tawfeeq Mahdi
- Rafidain account
- 3508, al-Wazireya (16 Nov 2021)
- Cashed (IQD)
- 981,900,000,000
- Cheques
- 65
- Tax deposits held
- None
Badiyat al-Masa
- Established
- 28 Jul 2021
- Declared capital
- IQD 1m
- Managing director
- Abdul Rahman M. Ibrahim → Abdul Mahdi Tawfeeq
- Rafidain account
- 3507, al-Wazireya (16 Nov 2021)
- Cashed (IQD)
- 670,000,000,000
- Cheques
- 36
- Tax deposits held
- None
Riyah Baghdad
- Established
- 28 Jul 2021
- Declared capital
- IQD 1m
- Managing director
- Hussein Kawa Abdul Qadir → Abdul Mahdi Tawfeeq
- Rafidain account
- sif9001 al-Zahraa (23 Nov 2021); 3509 al-Wazireya (29 Mar 2022)
- Cashed (IQD)
- 607,000,750,000
- Cheques
- 44
- Tax deposits held
- None
— All five belonged to Nour Zuhair, directly or through relatives and employees acting as fronts. Testimony
4 · The gap
Why nobody could see it
The theft existed in only one place: the bank's ledger. The GCT's books were never written.
GCT books
9 Oct 2022 — accounting certified
3,531,501,702,289
IQD
The bank
Actual balance, account 60032
145,050,309,732
IQD
The gap = the crime
3,386,451,392,557
≈ IQD 3.39 trillion
5 · The pattern
The tell-tale numbers
Genuine refund
IQD 1,543,379,142
Ragged figures, un-rounded — the signature of a real calculation.
The 247 cheques
7bn8.5bn10bn20bn25bn30bn
Round numbers — a statistical impossibility for real refunds, and the first anomaly investigators saw.
Testimony
6 · Logistics
The cash mountain
Approx. weight
185tonnes
IQD 3.7 trillion in 50,000-dinar notes — hundreds of vehicle loads (≈230 SUV loads) through Baghdad's streets, over months, with storage, guards and distribution.
Equivalent
hundreds of vehicle loads (≈230 SUV loads)
A theft of this physical scale cannot hide from the institutions of a state; it can only be tolerated by them. In January 2022, the movement of cash in unlicensed private vehicles was formally complained about — in writing — and nothing happened.
Testimony
7 · Destination
Where did the money go?
Bribes
To politicians, officials, judges — the protection budget.
Investigative assessment
Property & cash inside Iraq
Dozens of properties later seized, then reportedly released.
Testimony
Abroad via the CBI dollar auction
Using fake import documentation through complicit private banks — the classic laundering channel; the US later banned several such banks from dollar dealings and sanctioned financier Ali Ghulam.
Press record
Unrecovered
Documented recoveries: IQD 182.7bn + $125m (2022). The asset-tracing mandate (Cleary Gottlieb) was abandoned by the incoming government.
Documented