Forgery ring used fake documents for loans and land, integrity body says

DIWANIYAH — Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity said Sunday it had broken up an alleged forgery network in Diwaniyah, arresting 13 people including government employees and lawyers accused of producing false documents to obtain public loans, residential land and other state benefits worth more than 4 billion dinars (about $3 million at the official rate).

Investigators from the commission’s Diwaniyah office searched the governorate’s Municipal Directorate and its Civil Status, Passports and Residency Directorate, where the arrests were made, the commission said. It said the inquiry began with intelligence that employees, lawyers and others were forging documents across several governorates.

The group is accused of processing 243 fraudulent loan applications at 12 state-owned banks using forged residency certificates and guarantees, and of obtaining 13 residential plots for people from outside Diwaniyah who were not eligible for them, using residency certificates falsely issued in the name of the Civil Status Directorate.

Forged civil registry records were also used to claim compensation through the committee implementing Article 140 of the constitution, which handles disputed territories, the commission said. It said the suspects submitted false civil records to courts to claim other people’s entitlements, sent forged correspondence to the Martyrs Foundation, the National Pension Authority, the Article 140 Committee and the Social Welfare Institution, issued civil identity cards in the names of living and dead people, and falsified electronic visas for foreign countries.

Investigators seized more than 600 residency certificates and civil registry documents addressed to municipal offices, banks and the National Pension Authority, and more than 1,000 forged documents in total, along with a computer taken from the Civil Status Directorate that was allegedly used in the scheme.

The investigative judge at Diwaniyah Court ordered the properties linked to the case seized, suspended transfers of ownership and ordered the suspects held. The commission said investigations continue to identify others involved.