Following Shafaq Probe, Iraq orders global hunt for "forgotten" billions in state assets
Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct ambassadors, consuls, and diplomatic missions abroad to take concrete steps in identifying and reclaiming state-owned assets held overseas.
The step came after Shafaq News investigation, citing senior diplomatic sources, revealed that Iraq owns at least 50 properties and investment ventures spread across Europe, Asia, and Africa. These include luxurious palaces, farms, banks, commercial offices, and key industrial facilities, many of which have remained unaccounted for since the fall of the previous regime.
Committee member Mokhtar al-Mousawi told Shafaq News that Iraq possesses numerous properties and assets across various countries, all backed by official documentation. However, he stressed that these holdings require serious efforts to be formally registered under the Iraqi state once again.
“These assets include properties that were entrusted to individuals or registered under private names during the former regime. With the right diplomatic engagement, they can be recovered,” al-Mousawi stated.
He urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to instruct Iraq’s ambassadors and consuls to intensify their efforts to restore these properties—some of which are worth millions of dollars. According to al-Mousawi, notable examples include a large mosque in Australia, expansive tea plantations in Sri Lanka, and agricultural lands in Yemen.
On domestic assets tied to the former regime, al-Mousawi noted that some seized properties in Baghdad’s Green Zone are now being sold to current occupants at a rate of four million Iraqi dinars per square meter—a figure he criticized as undervaluing the strategic importance and location of these properties.
