Iraq anti-corruption body halts sale of 550-donum state land in Ramadi

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Federal Integrity Commission has halted the sale of a 550-donum state-owned plot of land in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, saying the transaction undervalued the property. According to the commission, the land was sold to a private citizen for 13.75 billion Iraqi dinars. The State Land Directorate had set a reference price of 25.09 million dinars per donum, but the commission's field team, using parcel coordinates and comparable plots, determined the actual market value at 60 million dinars per donum, putting the land's real worth at around 33 billion dinars. The commission said the sale was conducted without the necessary municipal approval. It referred the case file prepared by the Anbar Corruption Investigation Office to an investigating judge handling corruption cases in the province. The judge ordered the sale suspended and sent the preliminary investigation file to an external audit unit. The judge also directed that legal representatives from the State Land Directorate, the land registry and the General Tax Authority be questioned as part of the inquiry. No further details on the case were immediately available.