Iraqi author says post-2003 party-linked economic offices built shadow empire on state assets

Iraqi writer Maksim al-Iraqi has argued that economic offices tied to political parties and militias seized state assets after 2003 and turned them into a shadow empire, according to a published article. He writes that these structures first appropriated state property and reconstruction contracts, then consolidated as companies through tenders and commissions between 2006 and 2014, before expanding into banking, currency trading, border crossings and strategic real estate after 2014. Al-Iraqi uses the State Engineering Company and similar cases to argue that privatization was converted into party capital, leaving the genuine private sector unable to compete. He calls for the establishment of an independent judicial commission to review all privatization contracts, the legal classification of economic offices and their affiliated companies as unlawful, and the questioning of political leaders' wealth under a "how did you acquire this wealth" principle. The article also urges international cooperation to recover funds smuggled abroad and proposes establishing a national sovereignty fund modeled on Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund. It recommends tighter oversight of revenues from oil, energy and ports, though no immediate reaction from Iraqi officials was reported.