Kirkuk municipal official allegedly took cash and iPhone bribe for building permit

KIRKUK — A municipal official in Kirkuk was arrested on Thursday after being caught taking part of a bribe of cash and a smartphone in exchange for a building permit, the Federal Commission of Integrity said.

The official, head of Kirkuk’s fourth municipal sector, demanded $6,000 and an iPhone 18 Pro Max from a resident to let him build a commercial property and not obstruct the project, the commission said. Acting on a tip and a judicial warrant, a team from its Kirkuk Investigation Office set up an ambush at the agreed handover point and arrested him as he took part of the cash. A judge at the Kirkuk Investigation Court for integrity cases ordered him detained.

The commission has reported a string of bribery cases in recent months. On Monday it said four public employees, three of them municipal staff, had been <a href=”https://en.964media.com/53664/”>arrested in three bribery operations</a> across Baghdad, and on Oct. 10 that three electricity employees had been arrested in Mosul on suspicion of demanding a bribe to cancel a fictitious fine for illegally tapping the grid. In late August, the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court sentenced the director general of the state-owned General Company for Electric Power Production in the Middle Euphrates and his office director to six years in prison for bribery, and in June the commission said it had arrested six employees at a customs crossing in Kirkuk governorate accused of taking bribes to approve customs transactions.