Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani is struggling with a host of political scandals that threaten to derail his professed goal of stamping out corruption, while eroding the trust of his coalition partners.
The coalition that brought him to power, the Co-ordination Framework, is increasingly torn over a series of allegations, worsening tension between the country’s Shiite elites.
Existing rows focus on government budget allocations, compliance with US sanctions on Iran, control of the Popular Mobilisation Forces – a largely Iran-backed government paramilitary force – and the intelligence services.
But on Monday, one of Iraq’s worst corruption scandals came back to haunt Mr Al Sudani’s allies and his wider coalition – a case known as the Heist of the Century, which involved well-connected fraudsters using fake companies to scam the Finance Ministry’s tax office of $2.5 billion, in late 2021 and 2022.
Despite the scandal occurring during the term of former prime minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi, the current row centres on why some of the main suspects are still at large, in particular a tax authority official, Mr Jassim, who was briefly jailed in the case and then released by the Supreme Judicial Council to “liquefy” assets for repatriation. He has missed multiple court dates in Iraq.
The SJC said on Monday it would take legal action against the head of the Integrity Commission, the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, accusing him of making false statements against a top judge in the SJC, at two press conferences last week, in Baghdad and Erbil.
Integrity Commission head Haider Hanoun is separately accused of accepting bribes in an unrelated case following a leaked audio recording. The SJC's decision to take legal action against Mr Hanoun follows a bitter argument related to the heist, between the head of Iraq’s highest court of appeal, known as the Karkh court, a part of the SJC, and the Integrity Commission.
Integrity Commission head Mr Hanoun was appointed by Mr Al Sudani in his first two weeks in office and formerly campaigned with the Badr Organisation, one of the most powerful Iran-backed groups in Iraq.
SJC head Faiq Zaidan is seen as a vital Iran ally for making a series of high court rulings on a contested 2021 election that paved the way for Mr Al Sudani’s largely pro-Iranian backers, the Co-ordination Framework, to form a government. The rulings allowed them to defeat a rival coalition that secured the highest number of seats.
Mr Hanoun was also given his role alongside a new counter-corruption organisation led by Abu Ali Al Basri, a shadowy intelligence figure who worked with Iran-backed groups in exile in the 1990s, and is seen as close to Iran. Mr Al Basri is now at the centre of a scandal involving allegations that Mr Al Sudani asked the intelligence services to spy on rivals inside the Co-ordination Framework, including Faiq Zaidan.
The Framework has since held a series of meetings in an effort to close ranks and move on from the crisis, which has outraged some members of the political elite. Several of the accused wiretappers are among the prime minister's staff.
If Mr Hanoun is removed from his post, it may not be fatal for the Prime Minister, but speaks of the bitter power struggle he now contends with as he builds a coalition for a second term in office.
“This is a complex struggle. It's all part of a fight within the Co-ordination Framework. Sudani and Fayadh on one side and the rest of CF and the judiciary on the other. However, Sudani met Zaidan last week in an effort to calm tensions,” an Iraqi political analyst who recently worked in government told The National. He spoke on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity surrounding the corruption allegations.
Faleh Al Fayadh is the chairman of the PMF, a critical security role contested by another Sudani ally, Qais Al Khazali, a militia commander turned politician. Both men are sanctioned by the US and closely linked to Iran, indicative of how Mr Al Sudani’s key allies and foes are linked to Tehran.
Government spying
Three revelations stand out, the first being an August 28 allegation that Mr Al Sudani used his influence on the intelligence service to eavesdrop on powerful political rivals within the Co-ordination Framework, including Hadi Al Amiri of the Badr Organisation, and former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki. Both party leaders have been increasingly critical of Mr Al Sudani, alongside a range of smaller Iran-backed groups.
This year, the Prime Minister has been accused of foot dragging on removing US forces from Iraq, not pushing back on US sanctions on Iraqi banks – accused of funnelling billions of dollars to Iran through front companies – and cutting government spending in southern Iraqi provinces. Mr Al Amiri has been particularly angry on the US sanctions issue, and with Mr Al Maliki, both men command a large number of seats in the Framework.
The second scandal relates to Mr Hanoun, the integrity commission head. He allegedly admitted to accepting bribes in a leaked audio recording.
Mr Hanoun, while facing bribery allegations, accused Dhia Jaafar, deputy at Baghdad's Second Karkh Investigation Court, of protecting the chief suspect in what has been called the Heist of the Century, Noor Zuhair Jassim. Launching the legal action against Mr Hanoun, the SJC said Mr Jaafar's record had been “outstanding”.
Mr Hanoun last week made new corruption allegations involving Mr Jassim and the robbery, a scandal revealed in October 2022 involving the theft of $2.5 billion from the Ministry of Finance’s tax office. Experts say most of Iraq’s political elite likely had some involvement in the complex scheme, and that any arrests will not involve the theft's key backers.
The fraud involved the signing of cheques issued by the tax authority for fake companies, claiming to be official representatives of legitimate international oil companies seeking rebates.
The case, which has shocked Iraq despite already high levels of corruption, involved the cheques being cashed at state-owned bank Rafidain, with allegedly no internal reporting of the transactions over the course of 247 withdrawals.
Mr Hanoun, at the Integrity Commission, has been under pressure for failing to secure the return of Mr Jassim to Iraq, leading some critics to say efforts to find justice are not genuine. Mr Zaidan, the SJC head, and Mr Jaafar allowed Mr Jassim to travel out of Iraq to liquefy his assets so they can be repatriated to Iraq, according to public statements.
Mr Hanoun’s latest allegation against Mr Jaafar refers to a contract worth $22.5 billion allegedly awarded by Iraq’s General Railway Company to Mr Jassim, to build a new rail link from Basra to Turkey, at Fayshkhabor on the border. He claims that Mr Jaafar did not act on the alleged contract award to the wanted Mr Jassim.
The clash between Mr Hanoun and the SJC under Mr Zaidan presents a fresh challenge to Mr Al Sudani, another Iraqi political consultant told The National. The consultant has been working with Mr Al Sudani’s office and said he could not speak on record.
“When we discussed the robbery Sudani said, ‘I need to shed more light on this. I need to bring the perpetrators to justice and there has to be more pressure on those ultimately behind the robbery.’ He realised this scandal is eroding his popularity the longer it goes on and takes a lot of interest in how the public perceive what has happened,” he said.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Super%20Mario%20Bros%20Wonder
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Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz
Director: Kushan Nandy
Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami
Three stars
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
Squads
Sri Lanka Tharanga (c), Mathews, Dickwella (wk), Gunathilaka, Mendis, Kapugedera, Siriwardana, Pushpakumara, Dananjaya, Sandakan, Perera, Hasaranga, Malinga, Chameera, Fernando.
India Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane, Jadhav, Dhoni (wk), Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Thakur.
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The%20specs
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
England v South Africa schedule
- First Test: Starts Thursday, Lord's, 2pm (UAE)
- Second Test: July 14-18, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 2pm
- Third Test: The Oval, London, July 27-31, 2pm
- Fourth Test: Old Trafford, Manchester, August 4-8
T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
ICC T20 Rankings
1. India - 270 ranking points
2. England - 265 points
3. Pakistan - 261 points
4. South Africa - 253 points
5. Australia - 251 points
6. New Zealand - 250 points
7. West Indies - 240 points
8. Bangladesh - 233 points
9. Sri Lanka - 230 points
10. Afghanistan - 226 points
