The federal commission to investigate suspected oil trafficking in Jurf al-Sakhr, south of Baghdad, has not completed its work. After a first visit on Friday 13 November, its members returned to the capital. Other places still need to be examined and information needs to be gathered, said Babil Provincial Council President Assaad al-Muslimawi. This departure therefore does not constitute the closure of the investigation or the publication of its findings.
The file covers an area also known as Jurf al-Nasr, north of Babil province. Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, ordered investigations into reports of oil diversions. The documents consulted define a fact-finding mission. They do not alone establish the existence of trafficking or the criminal liability of an organisation or person.
In Jurf al-Sakhr, a first inspection and sites to be reviewed
Assaad al-Muslimawi described on 13 November a first phase of procedures and information gathering. The commission had several specialties and was expected to continue its work in the following days. The provincial official indicated that some parts of the area still contained mines and explosive remnants of war. According to him, these risks impose precautions when travelling.
He also claimed that the mission had proceeded without opposition or obstruction. This is the version of the president of the provincial council, not an independent observation of all the sites concerned. In the same interview, he stressed that several places and reports remained to be considered. His comments therefore do not lead to the conclusion that all access requests have already been fully inspected.
The official distinguished federal jurisdiction from the role of the Babil authorities. According to his explanations, the local government facilitates travel and obtaining information, but does not direct investigations. This distribution is important: the delegation’s return to Baghdad does not transfer the conduct of the case to the provincial authorities.
Two successive orders, two compositions to distinguish
The composition of the commission gave rise to different presentations. Two documents reproduced in the Iraqi press reveal the succession of instructions. The first, dated 11 November, is addressed to General Saad Mohsen Oreibi. He entrusted him with the chairmanship of a commission comprising, inter alia, the federal police, the energy police, the security and disciplinary services of Hashd al-Shaabi and representatives of anti-corruption and intelligence agencies.
The second order, dated November 12, details a composition of eleven functions. He placed at his head the Director General of Discipline and Security of the Hachd. The document bears the signature of Abdel Amir Kamel al-Shammari, Director of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The differences between the two lists should not be eliminated by assigning the same presidency to both stages.
The list of 12 November includes the adviser to Prime Minister Mouayyad al-Saadi, the Secretariat for Intelligence and Security to the Commander-in-Chief, the investigations of the Anti-Corruption Authority and the Directorate of Petroleum Products representing the Ministry of Petroleum. It also includes officials from the federal police, the anti-terrorist apparatus and several branches of the Ministry of the Interior, including the Energy Police and the Scientific Police.
This diversity of services corresponds to a file combining oil controls, evidence searches and travel safety. It does not give an investigation result. The written mandate remains to verify reports of alleged trafficking in Jurf al-Nasr, to take the necessary action and to report to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief.
A police escort, not a verdict
The order of 12 November asked the federal police to prepare a convoy to protect the commission’s movements. He fixed a rally at the Chief Commander’s office the next day at 9 a.m. This schedule is that of an appointment provided for in the document: it does not prove that the investigators entered each facility at that particular time.
On 13 November, Saad Maan, head of security information, confirmed the start of the field work. He claimed that no political party or faction participated in the commission. This statement must be read together with the administrative list of its members, which mentions a Hachd official. It describes the official position on the institutional quality of participants, without itself resolving the political controversies surrounding the sector.
Traffic charges remain separate from three documented facts: the order to open an investigation, the establishment of its composition and the commencement of inspections. The publication of a report, its possible judicial transmission and the follow-up to its findings would be distinct steps. In the last audited state, the Chairman of the Babil Council announced the continuation of the collection of information and new visits.
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