Shafaq News- Kirkuk

Iraq’s Federal Integrity Commission (CoI) said on Sunday that it arrested three suspects in Kirkuk in two separate operations involving alleged pension fraud and bribery.

The Commission uncovered a scheme in which National Pension Authority employees, lawyers, and intermediaries reportedly manipulated pension records to obtain unlawful payments. Investigators detained two suspects accused of falsifying pension files and illegally collecting more than 84 million Iraqi dinars (approximately $55,263) in accumulated pension payments registered under a woman’s name.

In a separate operation, authorities caught a Kirkuk police officer responsible for detainee transfers accepting a bribe to arrange an inmate’s relocation to another detention facility.

An investigating judge ordered all three suspects detained pending investigation, citing Articles 289 and 298 of Iraq’s Penal Code and amended Decision No. 160 of 1983 in the two cases, according to the CoI.

Read more: Iraq's Dawn Crackdown moves from raids to rulings