Shafaq News- Babil

Iraq’s Federal Integrity Commission(CoI), the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, said on Wednesday that investigators broke up a bribery and extortion network in Babil that allegedly demanded payments from applicants seeking contracts to use provincial government land.

The Commission said the network included the head of the provincial government’s Property Valuation Committee, his wife and his son. Both work for the Hilla Municipality Directorate.

According to the statement, the suspects allegedly demanded money from people applying for musataha rights over provincial properties —arrangements allowing them to develop land owned by another party— in return for advancing their applications and securing the necessary approvals.

The Commission said the group coordinated with several intermediaries.

Investigators from the Commission’s Babil office, working with the Falcons Intelligence Cell, executed arrest warrants for the suspects. The Commission said they admitted receiving payments from several applicants in return for facilitating approval procedures.

Authorities also seized documents, contracts and bank cards during the operation.

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