Iraq extradites former municipal official from Oman after 12 years

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity said Tuesday it has recovered a former municipal official from Oman, 12 years after he fled the country following his conviction for neglect and dereliction of duty.

The commission said efforts by its Recovery Department, in cooperation with the Supreme Judicial Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interpol, the Arab and International Police Directorate, and the Iraqi Embassy in Muscat, led to the extradition of Ahmed Abdul-Latif Hameed al-Samarraie, a former director of the lands department at Samarra municipality.

The fugitive “was convicted of neglect and failure to perform his official duties,” the commission said, adding that in 2013 he “raised land allocation requests for municipal employees without applying proper selection criteria, which caused eligible employees to be deprived.”

The Salah al-Din Misdemeanor Court specialized in integrity cases issued a judgment in absentia sentencing him to four years in prison after reviewing evidence it found sufficient to convict. Interpol later issued a red notice, and Omani authorities handed him over to Iraq.

In late-July, the Commission announced the extradition of a former Ministry of Trade employee convicted in absentia of falsifying laboratory test certificates for wheat and rice. The fugitive, Salah Mahdi Dahla, had been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in manipulating grain quality reports.