Legal shields for corruption: Article 136(b) ministerial veto (to 2011) and general amnesty laws (2008, 2016, 2025 amendment)

Article 136(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code allowed ministers to block the prosecution of officials in their ministries; it was used 54 times in 2009 and 95 times in the first half of 2010 (according to Musings on Iraq), including, reportedly, by the Interior Minister to halt his inspector-general's inquiry into the fake bomb detectors, until parliament repealed it on 18 April 2011. General amnesty laws have repeatedly released convicted officials: the 2008 law reportedly covered the MoD procurement convictions; the 2016 General Amnesty Law was applied in 2018 to one of former Trade Minister al-Sudani's convictions; and the January 2025 amendment conditions amnesty for corruption convicts on repaying the losses fixed by the injured ministry, the route the Supreme Judicial Council described in July 2026 for the tax-deposits theft. Judge Abdul Sattar Bayraqdar was quoted saying corrupt convicts had been covered by the amnesty passed by parliament.