Shafaq News- Diyala

Diyala Provincial Council revealed on Tuesday a "large-scale manipulation" involving five representatives of wounded security personnel, families of martyrs, and people with disabilities in a land allocation program.

Turki Al-Atbi, head of the council's Integrity Committee, said at a press conference that the alleged scheme involved the submission of a document allocating 760 residential plots to wounded members of the security forces. Names were added to official records in exchange for money, while entitlement vouchers belonging to beneficiaries in need were purchased for amounts not exceeding three million Iraqi dinars ($2,290). The plots were then transferred to others, despite each being worth more than 60 million dinars (approximately $45,800).

Al-Atbi said the council had launched an audit to ensure land reaches legitimate beneficiaries based on eligibility and priority rather than pressure or public demonstrations.

Provincial Council Chairman Omar Al-Karawi described the council's role as supervisory, accusing "influential groups and mafias" of moving to obstruct oversight whenever investigations are opened, allowing corruption to expand and serve vested interests.

The disclosures followed protests earlier this week by wounded Iraqi security personnel near the Baqubah Municipality Directorate, where demonstrators demanded distribution of residential plots they say they are entitled to.