Iraqi court: Two politicians and oil chief face prison terms

Three high-ranking Iraqi officials will spend the next five to eight years in prison for their roles in a state oil corruption case. The court handed down the sentences on Thursday for two members of parliament and the former head of a national distribution firm. All three were found guilty of benefiting from contracts tied to state-owned refineries.

Muthanna al-Samarrai, who leads the Azm Alliance, received a six-year sentence. His party holds 15 seats in the 329-seat Iraqi parliament. The court also ordered him to repay 30 billion Iraqi dinars, which equals approximately $19.8 million. Ziad al-Janabi, a lawmaker for the smaller Tashree party, was sentenced to five years. He must repay 4 billion Iraqi dinars, or about $2.6 million.

The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that the convictions stemmed from commissions paid to the politicians. They allegedly facilitated the awarding of contracts to companies linked to them. The contracts involved the North Refineries Company and the South Refineries Company, which process crude oil and produce petroleum derivatives.

Hussein Talib, the former Director General of the Oil Products Distribution Company, was sentenced to eight years in prison. His sentence was announced on Thursday, though the ruling was issued Wednesday. Talib was convicted of intervening in contract awards for personal gain. The court ordered him to repay 55 billion dinars, a sum worth roughly $36.3 million.

The trials fit into a wider push against graft in Iraq. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi promised to combat corruption after taking office earlier this year. In June, dozens of political officials were arrested on similar charges. Those arrests included members of the Shiite bloc of former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and other members of the Azm Alliance.

On the same day, an Iraqi criminal court sentenced three French nationals to life in prison. They were convicted of terrorism charges connected to their membership in the Islamic State. Seven other French citizens received similar sentences on Tuesday. These 10 defendants were part of a group of 47 French citizens accused of IS ties. They had been held in Syria and were handed over to Iraq for prosecution last year.