Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity has issued orders for Kirkuk’s former Governor Najmadin Karim and the current Interim Governor Rakan Saeed al-Jubouri to be summoned to court on corruption charges. A travel ban has also been issued for both men.
A statement by the commission was issued today (15 September 2020) announcing the orders. The statement also mentions detention and travel ban orders for 23 other officials and employees in Kirkuk, among them the former head of Kirkuk Education Department.
The statement adds that the orders are based on Article 340 of the Iraqi Penal Code, and that they are related to a project for building school buildings worth about 58 billion Iraqi Dinars (about $49 million). The contractor is a foreign company.
Article 340 of Iraq’s Penal Code stipulates: “Any public official or agent who wilfully inflicts damage on the property or interests of the authority for which he works or to which he is associated by virtue of his position or on another's property that has been entrusted to him is punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 7 years or by detention.”
Late last August, the Integrity Commission confiscated a number of documents inside the building of the company that was contracted to build the schools.
The statement mentions that the contracting company had tampered with the basic designs of the school buildings and changed the sizes, and that they also reduced the number of the buildings from 25 to 18. All without the approval of the authorities.
