Integrity commission arrests Maysan oil official over 162 million dinar embezzlement

MAYSAN — Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity announced Thursday the arrest of an official at state-owned Maysan Oil Company over the alleged embezzlement of 162 million Iraqi dinars ($105,737), in addition to forging an official document.

In a statement, the commission said a task force from the Maysan Investigation Office carried out an inspection at the company’s Individual Accounts Department.

Following audit and follow-up procedures, the team arrested the head of one of the company’s divisions for allegedly embezzling 162,020,000 dinars allocated for sending employees on official assignments to Egypt and categorizing the funds under improper accounts.

The commission said investigators seized the original disbursement and accounting documents, noting that the primary supporting documents had been destroyed. It added that the temporary advances account for foreign assignments was used to pay fictitious salaries, despite the account having “no financial or accounting relation to salary disbursement.”

According to the statement, the investigative judge specialized in integrity cases in Maysan ordered the suspect’s detention under Article 315 of the Iraqi Penal Code, in conjunction with Article 289 of the same law.