Shafaq News- Saladin

Authorities arrested a Tikrit Municipality investment official in Saladin province for allegedly granting land illegally for personal gain at the state’s expense, Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity (CoI) announced on Friday.

CoI, the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, said a team from its Saladin Investigation Office arrested the official for allegedly processing investment applications to grant land through long-term land-use agreements without obtaining the required approvals.

Acting on a warrant issued by a Saladin investigative judge specializing in integrity cases, investigators also seized Tikrit Municipality documents from the suspect’s home, along with cash in Iraqi dinars and US dollars and gold jewelry.

Earlier this week, the Commission arrested the head of Tikrit Municipality’s property department over a separate alleged land-allocation scheme, seizing 94 municipal property deeds from his home. A second employee was also detained after investigators found land-allocation and ownership-transfer records at his residence.

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