Who is Ali Maarij Al-Bahadli, Iraq's deputy oil minister?

Iraq continues to storm the bastions of corruption and sever the hands of the corrupt, in what appears to be a campaign whose results will be of great benefit to the Iraqi people, who have long suffered from the theft carried out by these corrupt officials.

The latest of these is the Deputy Minister of Oil for Distribution Affairs, Ali Maarij Al-Bahadli. Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council announced in a statement that "preliminary investigations into the detained suspect Ali Maarij Al-Bahadli revealed the seizure of 11 million dollars and 4 billion Iraqi dinars, in addition to a number of properties."

The arrests began at dawn on Sunday when Iraqi security forces raided the offices and homes of politicians in Baghdad.

The Iraqi News Agency quoted high-level sources on Sunday as saying that "47 suspects, including members of parliament and officials, have been arrested on corruption charges," among them Al-Bahadli and at least 12 members of parliament.

However, government spokesman Haider Al-Aboudi said at his weekly press conference on Monday that the "Dawn Assault" operation "resulted in the arrest of 21 suspects, while others are still being pursued."

He noted that "the confessions made by the suspects are leading to other networks in terms of names and funds."

The arrests come ahead of an expected visit by Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi to Washington in mid-July, which will be his first trip abroad since assuming office last month and pledging to fight corruption.

Who is Ali Al-Bahadli?

Al-Bahadli is considered one of the most prominent executive officials in Iraq's oil sector in recent years. Born in 1966 in Maysan province, he obtained a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Baghdad before beginning his professional career at the Iraqi Drilling Company.

He subsequently rose through the ranks to head the Maysan Fields Authority and then the presidency of the Maysan Oil Company, before holding senior positions within the Ministry of Oil since 2018, including Director of the Licensing and Contracts Department, Acting Minister of Oil, and Deputy Minister of Oil — until he became the focus of Iraqi investigations and US sanctions linked to files involving the smuggling of Iraqi oil and the circumvention of sanctions.