Middle Euphrates electricity companies: substation and transformer contracts, store irregularities and a director general jailed for bribery (from 2023 to 2026)

On 19 September 2023 the Integrity Commission said it had found waste and violations worth IQD 134 billion in four Ministry of Electricity contracts, mostly at the Middle Euphrates companies. The Middle Euphrates distribution company bought ten Siemens substations for IQD 55.5 billion from a local company invited alone, IQD 750 million above that company's own offer. The supplier had bought the stations before the contract, which the Commission said pointed to collusion, and most were still in store. The company also accepted 20 power transformers worth IQD 24 billion without tests in the country of origin and removed the heads of the testing and execution sections, who had refused them. At the Khairat gas plant poor repairs were followed by a new turbine costing IQD 36 billion. In August 2024 the distribution company's assistant director general was arrested for taking 197 transformers into store without a contract, and in April 2026 four transmission staff were held over an informal store. On 24 August 2026 the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court jailed the director general of the Middle Euphrates Electricity Production Company and his office manager for six years each for taking a bribe to release a company's dues.