Baghdad court freezes assets of fugitive oil-sector figure under Iraqi arrest warrant

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Baghdad's Karkh Third Investigative Court has ordered a precautionary freeze on all movable and immovable assets belonging to Omid Haji Ahmed, who is subject to an outstanding arrest warrant, according to a September 1, 2026 ruling sent to the Ministry of Finance. The court said the suspect resides in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region and that the warrant was issued under Article 430 of Iraq's Penal Code No. 56 of 1969. The court had previously issued a detention ruling against the suspect on July 27, directing that he be brought in by force. Court documents identify Omid Haji Ahmed as the owner of the Arab Transporters Company, which holds contracts to transport crude oil from southern and northern oil fields. He has been described as one of the long-time behind-the-scenes actors in Iraq's energy sector. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted Omid on July 3, 2025, accusing him of facilitating the smuggling of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil, using forged documents to disguise the oil as Iraqi-origin, and providing financing to groups on terrorism lists. Local sources in Nineveh's Qayyarah oil field reported that open smuggling activity, conducted day and night under security protection, has taken place there for years. No further details on the asset freeze were immediately available.