"Ghost soldiers": 50,000 fictitious names on the army payroll (Abadi, November 2014)

On 30 November 2014, months after the fall of Mosul, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told parliament that a headcount during salary payments had uncovered 50,000 fictitious names ("fadhaiyin") in the army, roughly four divisions, and that the posts were scrapped. Officers described two schemes: commanders keeping part of their guards' salaries while sending them home, and brigade commanders carrying dozens of absent or non-existent soldiers. The Fiscal Times estimated, on an entry-level salary of about $600 a month, a cost of at least $380m a year (media arithmetic, not an official figure). No list of officers prosecuted was published.