Economist says Iraq lost ‘element of surprise’ in anti-corruption campaign

BAGHDAD — Iraqi economist Ziad al-Hashimi said Wednesday that the government had already lost momentum in its anti-corruption campaign, arguing it had squandered the element of surprise by going after lower-level suspects and leaving senior figures untouched.

In a Facebook post, al-Hashimi said the government had “lost the momentum of the attack on corruption” and slipped into a defensive phase after a single push against the theft and corruption network. Surprise, he said, was “a very decisive factor” in any such plan, and by focusing on “minor corrupt figures” the government had wasted a chance to reach the powerful.

The network, he said, had now grown more cautious and braced for further campaigns, making results harder to achieve. He argued the political class had already moved to obstruct the drive and pressure the government to stop, to “be satisfied with what has been achieved and not expand the scope of targeting.” Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, he said, had “lost a golden opportunity” and left “senior thieves free” to push back, and any repeat campaign would lack surprise and yield “formal results below the level of ambition.”

His assessment cuts against the government’s framing. Al-Zaidi has called the operation only its “first phase,” and this week security and political sources told 964media it had been planned in near-total secrecy, with commanders told only at the last minute and personnel made to surrender their phones the day before.

The government has said dozens of current and former officials were arrested, that the campaign would continue, and on Monday announced a treasury account for recovered assets.