2026-01-15T13:41:50+00:00
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Shafaq News
Official documents obtained by
Shafaq News reveal corruption and public fund losses at the state-owned
Rafidain Bank amounting to more than 14 billion Iraqi dinars ($1.6M), linked to
financial and administrative violations involving bank employees.
According to the documents, which
include official correspondence issued by Iraq’s Ministry of Finance and
addressed to Rafidain Bank, several employees were implicated in corruption
cases, most notably involving the manipulation of monthly loan installments
paid in cash by borrowers, where collected amounts were found to be missing and
not matched by corresponding deposits in official banking records.
The documents also point to another
corruption file related to car loans granted to citizens, which was marred by
financial and administrative violations that resulted in further losses of
public funds.
Informed sources told Shafaq News
that the corruption files extend beyond the cases identified in the documents.
They include alleged abuse of official positions through privileges, travel
missions, and large financial expenditures outside legal frameworks, as well as
suspected irregularities in account balances and financial transfers.
The sources, who preferred to stay
anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, also referred to a separate file
concerning penalties imposed on Rafidain Bank branches outside Iraq, along with
other files that have not yet been disclosed.
“Regulatory bodies —particularly the
Integrity Commission, the Federal Board of Supreme Audit, and the judiciary—
are required to conduct direct, on-site audits and form mobile inspection teams
at the bank and its branches,” the sources stressed, warning against relying
solely on reports submitted by the bank, especially amid accusations that
inaccurate or misleading data may have been provided by officials in
coordination with other involved parties to conceal corruption and public fund
losses.
The sources confirmed that
investigations into these files have not been conclusively settled, noting that
there is a trend toward obliging those involved to repay the amounts under
suspicion. They added that judicial procedures remain unclear at this stage,
suggesting that only one employee may have been detained in connection with the
case, although no official confirmation has been issued so far.
Link to the 2022 Mustansiriya Branch
Case
Shafaq News had previously addressed
a major corruption case at Rafidain Bank in a 2023 report, which detailed the
embezzlement of 14 billion Iraqi dinars at the bank’s branch in Baghdad’s
Shorja area including funds linked to housing loans for the Bismayah
residential complex. The Integrity Commission said the case was referred to the
Rusafa Investigation Court, specialized in integrity, money laundering, and
economic crime, which ordered the detention of the suspects under Article 316
of the Iraqi Penal Code.
At the time, borrowers from Bismayah
told Shafaq News that they were shocked when they visited the branch to make
monthly payments and were told that installments they had already paid were
“not recorded in the branch’s system.”
An informed source later told our
agency that the investigation file had effectively stalled, describing it as
having “gone to dust.”
A senior official at the Ministry of
Finance told Shafaq News at that time that the 14 billion dinars embezzled at
the Mustansiriya branch resulted from large-scale manipulation of loan and
installment payment receipts, including Bismayah housing loans and other credit
facilities. The official said the case was uncovered by the Integrity
Commission on August 8, 2022.
According to a government source,
approximately 500 borrowers were affected by the embezzlement, including 228
citizens whose down-payment records —representing 10% of Bismayah housing
units— were lost, with individual payments ranging between 10 million and 30
million dinars, under the 2020 payment system.
Leaked documents reviewed by Shafaq
News showed that the Ministry of Finance’s Compensation Committee for Rafidain
Bank assessed financial damages and issued formal decisions identifying
employees subject to liability, while exempting others due to insufficient
evidence of direct involvement. The documents indicate that the committee
relied on internal audits and branch-level financial records to determine
responsibility.
An Integrity Commission official
stressed that Rafidain Bank’s board is responsible for compensating affected
citizens, particularly those who possess official receipts proving payment,
emphasizing that borrowers bear no responsibility for the bank’s failures.
Meanwhile, members of Iraq’s
previous parliament declined to comment when contacted by Shafaq News at the
time, citing a lack of information regarding the file.
Investigations into the newly
revealed documents remain ongoing, with regulatory and judicial bodies yet to
announce final outcomes or comprehensive accountability measures.
Written and edited by Shafaq News
staff.
