Iraqi official arrested in $1 million ‘fake road project’ scheme

SALAH AL-DIN — Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity on Wednesday announced the arrest of a senior official from the Salah Al-Din Governorate Administration over a fraudulent project involving nearly 1.5 billion Iraqi dinars (over $1 million).

In a statement, the commission said its investigation team in Salah Al-Din detained the assistant director of the auditing and control department for allegedly issuing a verification letter approving an advance payment of 1,449,957,000 dinars for a road rehabilitation project in Dujail that was never carried out.

The commission described the project as “fictitious” and said three engineers from the resident engineer’s department who were linked to the same scheme were also taken into custody.

Authorities prepared an official seizure report and referred the suspects to the Salah Al-Din Investigative Court, which handles corruption and integrity cases, to begin legal proceedings.