Commission seizes 2.5 billion dinars from a former official’s home

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity said Tuesday it had seized 2.5 billion dinars (about $1.9 million at the official rate) from the home of a former accounts department director in Salah al-Din governorate, and identified six properties in investment housing complexes registered in his wife’s name.

A team from the commission’s Salah al-Din office carried out the search under a judicial warrant, documented the cash and other items and referred the record to the investigating judge, it said. The former official is being held pending investigation under Article 340 of the penal code.

The case concerns a check issued through Rafidain Bank for what were presented as employee entitlements and salary differences, the commission said, adding that the payment file contained fictitious receipts.

The seizure is the latest in a run of corruption investigations announced since June, led by the case against former Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili, in which investigators have recovered large sums in cash and gold and courts have seized properties, vehicles and businesses. Some of those assets were registered in employees’ names to conceal their origin, according to the judiciary.