Iraqi lawmaker says $2.7 billion in public funds lost in Defense Ministry scrap sales

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A member of the Iraqi Parliament said he has uncovered an alleged corruption case involving scrap metal sales by the Defense Ministry that cost the public treasury an estimated 1.6 trillion dinars (about $1.07 billion). Falih al-Khuzai, head of the Menson parliamentary bloc, said his office submitted an official letter to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, asking him to open an investigation. According to al-Khuzai, the ministry sold less than 4 million tons of scrap iron at around 200,000 dinars per ton through exceptional procedures that bypassed Law No. 21 of 2013 on the Sale and Lease of State Property. Under that law, the rate should have been closer to 600,000 dinars per ton, he said, which would have brought the total to about 2.4 trillion dinars (roughly $1.6 billion). The discrepancy between the actual sales price and the legally required price, al-Khuzai said, amounted to 1.6 trillion dinars in public losses. He told reporters the figures were based on real records, not estimates, and urged Sudani to launch a formal probe. Al-Khuzai also said the recovered funds, if the allegations are upheld, should be directed to support Iraq's air defense systems. No further details were immediately available on whether the prime minister's office has responded.