Iraq uncovers forged transfers of properties linked to former Baath regime figures

BAGHDAD — The Justice Ministry says it has uncovered forged transactions transferring ownership of a number of properties in Salah al-Din that belonged to figures of the former Baath regime, in transfers carried out in 2007.

“The Real Estate Registration Department at the Ministry of Justice uncovered a number of properties in Salah Al-Din governorate belonging to figures of the former regime whose transactions were forged and ownership illegally transferred in 2007,” the ministry said, describing the discovery as coming from reviews aimed at protecting property records. Justice Minister Khalid Shwani ordered legal action and those implicated have been referred to the judiciary. The ministry said it would continue reviewing cases of manipulation and forgery in real estate transactions.

It did not say how many properties are involved, where they are, what they are worth, who holds them now, or how many people have been referred. Nor did it say what should have happened to them. Assets belonging to the former regime and its figures were subject to state seizure after 2003, so who was deprived by the transfers, and whether the properties can be recovered, is unclear from the statement.

It is the second case at the Salah al-Din registry in three weeks. An assistant director there concealed ownership of about 95 properties across three governorates in her husband’s, relatives’ and intermediaries’ names, the Federal Commission of Integrity said late last month, with investigators seizing original deeds, 31 blank forms bearing people’s fingerprints and a directorate computer used to access barcodes from her home.

Property and land records have produced eleven cases in eight weeks across seven governorates. An investigation found the value of a 400-dunam state property in Anbar was manipulated during its sale, costing more than 18.4 billion dinars, about $14 million at the official rate. A network was accused of forging records for 104 properties at Nasiriyah Municipality Directorate, worth about 10.4 billion dinars. The National Security Service arrested 61 people in Muthanna on Aug. 28 over more than 90 forged land transactions. A former Kirkuk registry assistant was convicted over a fraudulent ownership document, a network at a Real Estate Bank branch in Babil manipulated 56 loan files using forged deeds, two Najaf municipal staff were caught taking a bribe over a forged barcode on a land document, and 13 people were arrested in Diwaniyah over falsified papers used to obtain loans and land.