Four arrested in Iraq’s Najaf over alleged pension theft, bribery
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity, the country's anti-corruption watchdog, on Sunday detained four public employees in Najaf in separate cases involving alleged pension embezzlement and a bribe to close a criminal case.
Two Rasheed Bank employees were detained after investigators found pension payments issued in the name of a deceased retiree had been embezzled over several years. Arrest warrants were issued for the employees, while the amount involved was not disclosed.
Separately, two legal employees at Najaf Municipality were “caught” receiving the first installment of a bribe they had requested in exchange for closing a criminal case involving a forged barcode on a municipal document concerning ownership of a land plot.
On August 21, a broader Integrity Commission audit identified 16,384 deceased beneficiaries whose payments had not been stopped and about 40,000 biometric Qi Cards issued using outdated records.
Read more: Corruption arrests in Iraq pass 210 under PM al-Zaidi
