Ninewa court has issued orders to interrogate three local officials for cases of corruption and intimidation, Iraqi integrity commission said in a statement on Sunday.
The court has ordered to summon deputy governor, mayor of Mosul and the arrest of a senior police officer in three separate cases.
Hassan Alaf, deputy governor for technical issues is facing corruption charges by Ninewa integrity court for the case of illegally playing with list of people to receive state-subsidized plots of lands, the statement by integrity commission declares.
The deputy governor is charged per article 331 of Iraqi penal code which stipulates, “any civil servant does not carry out his duties deliberately to hurt others, faces imprisonment and or financial penalty.”
On December 22nd, an arrest warrant was issued Ninewa Investigation Court specialized in integrity issues, directed to the security authorities for the purpose of arresting the mayor of Mosul, Zuhair Al-Araji, and referring him to court.
The mayor is probed for bribes charges accusing him of receiving USD240,000 in return of paving the way for building private housing units over state land.
Al-Araji denied the charges and said he is ready to attend court. He was out on bail and currently back to office resuming his duties.
The order to probe the mayor of Mosul came under Article 307 of the Iraqi Penal Code, regarding the penalty for bribery, which states that “every employee or person charged with a public service request or accepts for himself or for others a gift, benefit, advantage, or promise of something to perform an act of his job or to refrain from or violate the duties of the position, shall be punished by imprisonment and a fine not less than what was demanded, given or promised.”
In another case, the integrity commission said a senior officer of counter-crime police is to be arrested for intimidation and bribe of 60 million Iraqi Dinars ($40,000) from a resident of Mosul who purchased a plot of land.
The officer will be probed per article 308 of penal code and might face 7 years in prison since he pushed for bribes by using his position.
Corruption perception index 2020 by Transparency international, the global coalition against corruption, ranked Iraq 168 among 181 countries.
