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IRAQ'S CORRUPTION
العربية
Cases

Kurdistan Region: 16,500 double-salary earners removed (2020) and UN monitoring of grand-corruption trials (from 2024 to 2025)

KRG Deputy PM Qubad Talabani said in November 2020 that the biometric registration of public wage-earners had eliminated 16,500 people illegally receiving more than one salary, with more ghost employees expected; he did not say whether they would be prosecuted. UNDP's second trial-monitoring report on grand corruption cases in the Kurdistan Region (from January 2024 to February 2025, published December 2025) found conviction rates falling slightly, longer trials, estimated embezzled funds per case rising from about IQD 622m to IQD 4.5bn, and limited use of asset confiscation.

Period
From 2020 to December 2025
Sector
Kurdistan RegionPayroll and judicial handling of corruption
Kind of case
Official statement or estimate
Jurisdiction
Kurdistan Region

How the money moved, according to the sources

This account is the one given by the sources listed on this page. It is not the finding of a court.

Duplicate salaries and ghost employees; weak asset recovery in prosecuted embezzlement cases.

What happened

Payroll clean-up; trial monitoring recommendations (specialised courts, whistleblower law).

Open questions

  • Named grand-corruption convictions in the KRI; KRG Integrity Commission annual data.

People and companies

The table lists everyone this case names, with their legal status on the date shown. A status in this case does not carry over to any other case, and an accusation is not a conviction. How to read the status.
People and companies
NameRole in the caseLegal statusDetailAs of
Qubad Talabani
قوباد طالباني
KRG Deputy Prime MinisterNot charged as of the date of writingSource of the 16,500 figure.25 September 2026

Sources

These are the documents on which this case rests. Each quote is given in the language of the document.
  1. UNDP Iraq (EU-funded ACAI II project)9 December 2025Report by a non-governmental organisation or research centreTier C

    Second Report on Grand Corruption Cases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Trial Monitoring Programme)

    Asset confiscation remained limited: 8 cases during investigations, 2 during trial
    OriginalSHA-256 38a79ef04fe8
  2. Iraq Business News (Padraig O'Hannelly)18 November 2020Press reportTier D

    More than 16,000 Ghost Workers removed in Kurdistan

    The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) biometric registration program is claimed to have removed more than 16,000
    Original

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