Basra official arrested over alleged extortion, two brokers detained

BASRA — Iraq’s Federal Integrity Commission said Saturday it arrested the director of an execution department in Basra governorate on allegations of extorting a citizen and deliberately delaying the processing of a legally compliant transaction, while a separate operation led to the detention of two transaction brokers inside the Basra Municipality Directorate.

According to a statement from the commission, both operations were carried out by investigators from the Basra Investigation Directorate following surveillance and monitoring efforts.

The commission said a team of investigators arrested the director of an execution department in the governorate “for exploiting his official position” and extorting a citizen by failing to complete a transaction “despite it being legally compliant and meeting all regulations and instructions.”

In a separate operation, investigators who moved to the Basra Municipality Directorate detained two suspects who were found carrying transactions belonging to several citizens.

The commission said the two men were processing transactions without official powers of attorney or authorization from the concerned citizens.

Investigators prepared seizure reports in both cases and referred the three suspects to the Basra Integrity and Money Laundering Investigative Court.

The court ordered the suspects detained pending further investigation, the commission said.