Defence Ministry contract for 800 trucks from the state car trading company: court investigation and payments stopped on an IQD 462 billion contract (2026)

Contract No. Defence/Contracts/96 between the Ministry of Defence and the General Company for Automotive Trade and Machinery, a company of the Ministry of Trade, was for 800 trucks with specialised bodies worth IQD 462 billion (about USD 353 million). On 25 June 2026 Sherwan Dubardani, a member of Parliament's security and defence committee, told Rudaw that a court was investigating the contract because its prices had been inflated, and Rudaw reported a document notifying the ministry that an investigation had begun. On 6 and 7 July Iraqi outlets described a document of the Karkh Second Investigation Court, signed by Judge Diyaa Jaafar, directing the defence minister's office to stop payments under the contract until the investigation ended, after preliminary reports of overpricing. On 6 July a ministry source told Shafaq News that the ministry had decided to seek cancellation of the contract and had told its supply and transport directorate not to accept the MAN trucks. The source put the overpricing at about USD 160 million, at USD 350,000 a truck against a market price of USD 120,000 to 150,000, and said the ministry had relieved its audit director and formed an investigative committee.