Three Nasiriyah municipality officials arrested in corruption probe

Shafaq News- Nasiriyah

Security forces arrested three people wanted by the judiciary who work for the Nasiriyah Municipality in Dhi Qar province on charges related to "serious damage to public funds," a source at the provincial governor’s office said Thursday.

The source told Shafaq News that one of those arrested is a senior Nasiriyah Municipality official who was detained while attempting to flee to Iran through the Shalamcheh border crossing. The other two were arrested at a cafe on the outskirts of Nasiriyah, the provincial capital, where they had allegedly been hiding from security forces for several weeks.

On Tuesday, another source at the Dhi Qar governor’s office reported the arrest of four people wanted by Iraq’s Integrity Commission who work for the municipality over cases involving damage to public funds.

The Nasiriyah Integrity Court had earlier issued arrest warrants for eight municipal employees. The investigation later expanded to include land-registration employees, transaction agents and others linked to the same cases.

The measures coincided with Dhi Qar Governor Haitham Al-Hamdani taking over the administration of the Nasiriyah Municipality and introducing administrative changes and dismissals. The local government has said it supports judicial and Integrity Commission efforts to pursue corruption cases.

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