Iraq's Corruption
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The Record

Timeline

This page lists the dated events on the site from 2003 to 2026, in the order in which they happened. Each event comes from one of the site's datasets and leads to its record: the start of a case, a sanction or a ban, a rule issued by the Central Bank, or a change in the legal status of a person or a company.

Each date is given only as precisely as the source gives it. It may be a day, a month or only a year.

The timeline holds 362 dated events: 98 case beginnings, 48 sanctions and enforcement actions, 82 Central Bank rules, 132 changes in the legal status of people and companies and 2 on how the new financial system was set up.

Kind of event
All 45Cases 31Changes in legal status 12Beginnings 2
Period
All years 362From 2003 to 2009 45From 2010 to 2019 139From 2020 to 2026 178

2003

  1. 2003Case begins
    Custer Battles LLC: False Claims Act liability over CPA currency-exchange contract (from 2003 to 2011)
  2. 2003Case begins
    US reconstruction programme in Iraq: official waste/fraud estimates and prosecution totals (SIGIR 2013; Commission on Wartime Contracting 2011)
  3. 2003Case begins
    Unaccounted oil production and the absence of metering (from 2003 to 2007): 100,000 to 300,000 barrels a day unexplained
  4. 2003Case begins
    Electricity sector: tens of billions spent since 2003 with chronic shortages (structural)
  5. 2003Case begins
    President Barham Salih's "$150bn smuggled" statement and draft Law on Recovering the Proceeds of Corruption (2021)
  6. 2003Case begins
    Customs and border crossings: capture of customs revenue by officials, parties and armed groups (from 2003 to 2021)
  7. 2003Case begins
    Headline estimates of what corruption has cost Iraq since 2003 (verbal claims, never to be summed) and Transparency International scores
  8. 2003Case begins
    Innospec (Octel): bribes to Iraqi Ministry of Oil officials to keep buying tetraethyl lead (from 2004 to 2008)
  9. 2003Case begins
    Seizure of state land and property by influential persons and the Integrity Commission's recovery drive (from 2003 to 2023)
  10. May 2003Case begins
    Airlift of nearly $12bn in cash (Iraqi funds) from the New York Fed to Baghdad, from May 2003 to June 2004
  11. May 2003Case begins
    KBR "Restore Iraqi Oil" fuel imports from Kuwait: DCAA-questioned costs and subcontractor kickbacks (from 2003 to 2005)
  12. 22 May 2003Beginning
    UN Security Council Resolution 1483 creates the Development Fund for Iraq; Iraq's oil money is to be paid into it in New York
  13. September 2003Case begins
    Former Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samarrai: conviction, Green Zone escape and Interpol case (from 2005 to 2008)
  14. October 2003Case begins
    CPA disbursed about $8.8bn of Iraqi DFI funds to ministries without adequate controls (SIGIR 05-004)
  15. 4 October 2003Beginning
    The Central Bank of Iraq holds its first daily dollar auction
  16. December 2003Case begins
    CPA South-Central (al-Hillah) bid-rigging, bribery and theft ring (Bloom-Stein case)

2004

  1. 2004Case begins
    "Brick Tracker": reported $1.2 to 1.6bn of airlifted Iraqi cash hidden in a Lebanese bunker (Risen/NYT, Oct 2014)
  2. 2004Case begins
    Legal shields for corruption: Article 136(b) ministerial veto (to 2011) and general amnesty laws (2008, 2016, 2025 amendment)
  3. 2004Case begins
    Integrity Commission chief Radhi al-Radhi's resignation and testimony alleging political obstruction (2007)
  4. 2004Case begins
    Federal Integrity Commission statistics: cases, convictions, ministers charged and funds recovered (from 2004 to 2021, selected years)
  5. June 2004Case begins
    The "$6.6bn missing" question: DFI funds at CPA dissolution and DoD's undocumented spending (SIGIR reports from 2010 to 2012)
  6. June 2004Case begins
    Ministry of Defence arms-procurement scandal under the interim government (about $1.3bn, from 2004 to 2005)

2005

  1. 2005Case begins
    Baiji refinery fuel diversion to the black market (from 2005 to 2007)
  2. 2005Case begins
    Corruption at Iraq's Sunni Endowment Diwan: bribery, an inflated property purchase and a hotel-acquisition case (from 2010 to 2023)
  3. June 2005Case begins
    Unaoil bribery of South Oil Company and Oil Ministry officials for "Master Plan" contracts (from 2005 to 2011)
  4. September 2005Legal status
    Hazim al-Shaalan Charged or wantedCPI referred dossier; warrant announcedStatus at the date of writing: Convicted (reported)
  5. 13 November 2005Legal status
    Philip H. Bloom ArrestedArrested at Newark airportStatus at the date of writing: Convicted
  6. 14 November 2005Legal status
    Robert J. Stein Jr. ArrestedArrested in Fayetteville, NCStatus at the date of writing: Convicted

2006

  1. 2006Case begins
    Selected convictions of ministers, governors and senior officials (from 2015 to 2022)
  2. 2006Case begins
    Rolls-Royce: Iraq bribery in its global FCPA/DOJ resolution over South Oil Company gas turbines (from 2006 to 2009; resolved 2017)
  3. 2006Case begins
    Parliamentary Integrity Committee finding: 4,600 fictitious ('ghost') projects under the Maliki government (announced January 2015)
  4. June 2006Case begins
    Ministry of Trade food-ration (Public Distribution System) scandal and Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani (from 2006 to 2018)
  5. 12 October 2006Legal status
    Ayham (Aiham) al-Samarrai Convicted2 yearsStatus at the date of writing: Charges dropped or case closed
  6. December 2006Legal status
    Ayham (Aiham) al-Samarrai WantedEscaped from Green Zone detentionStatus at the date of writing: Charges dropped or case closed

2007

  1. January 2007Case begins
    ADE 651 fake bomb detectors bought by the Ministry of Interior (from 2007 to 2010)
  2. 29 January 2007Legal status
    Robert J. Stein Jr. Convicted9 years; forfeit $3.6m
  3. 16 February 2007Legal status
    Philip H. Bloom Convicted46 months; forfeit $3.6m
  4. 30 May 2007Legal status
    Hazim al-Shaalan Convicted in absentia7 years (Central Criminal Court)Status at the date of writing: Convicted (reported)
  5. August 2007Legal status
    Hazim al-Shaalan Convicted in absentia3 years, Art. 341, armoured-car purchases $5.053mStatus at the date of writing: Convicted (reported)

2008

  1. 2008Case begins
    Health procurement: substandard medicines, Kimadia supply failures and stalled hospital projects (from 2008 to 2024)
  2. 2008Case begins
    The "steel-frame schools" (Duwaliya) school-building programme: most of the money spent, most schools unfinished (from 2008 to 2021)
  3. 2008Case begins
    TechnipFMC / FMC Technologies: bribery of Iraqi Ministry of Oil officials for metering-technology contracts (from 2008 to 2013; resolved 2019)
  4. 2008Legal status
    Hazim al-Shaalan Pardoned or amnestiedReported coverage by 2008 General Amnesty Law / acquittal (secondary sources only)Status at the date of writing: Convicted (reported)
  5. 29 April 2008Legal status
    Ayham (Aiham) al-SamarraiRemoved from Interpol list at Iraqi request

2009

  1. 30 May 2009Legal status
    Abdul Falah Hassan Hadi al-Sudani ArrestedPlane turned back; detainedStatus at the date of writing: Pardoned or amnestied
Download:timeline.csv.xlsxrules_timeline.csv.xlsxenforcement.csv.xlsx