Tikrit municipal employees arrested in fraudulent repair receipts scheme

TIKRIT – Authorities arrested 27 employees from Tikrit Municipality Wednesday on charges of issuing fraudulent repair receipts that led to the illegal disbursement of public funds. An investigation uncovered 1,650 forged receipts related to the maintenance and repair of municipal vehicles between 2020 and 2024.

“The Federal Integrity Commission has arrested 27 employees from the Tikrit Municipality Directorate for fabricating repair receipts that resulted in unlawful financial disbursements,” the commission said in a statement.

A team from the Salah Al-Din Investigation Office, operating under the direct supervision of the Integrity Court judge in Salah Al-Din, led the operation. After a thorough review, investigators linked evidence and gathered witness statements before traveling to Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tikrit, and Samarra to identify the shops allegedly involved in issuing the fake receipts.

The commission detailed that 211 fraudulent receipts were created in 2020, 280 in 2021, 336 in 2022, 611 in 2023, and 212 in 2024. The scheme enabled the suspects to benefit from illegal financial disbursements, and officials also seized original payment records.

Authorities documented their findings in an official report and presented the evidence, along with the detained suspects, to the Integrity Court judge in Salah al-Din. The judge ordered that the suspects be held under Article 340 of the Penal Code.