Iraq arrests Diyala official over alleged financial damage to public works project

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Federal Commission of Integrity said it detained an official responsible for the accounts of the Diyala governorate on charges of causing financial harm to public funds. The commission said the woman worked as a branch director within the governorate's general secretariat in Baquba, about 60 km northeast of Baghdad. According to the statement, the official handed over a bank guarantee tied to a street maintenance and asphalt project in Baquba to a representative of the contracting company before the project was delivered and despite identified violations. An inspection team sent to the site found severe cracks, collapses and heavy damage on a street paved roughly several months earlier by a local company under a contract valued at approximately 1.261 billion Iraqi dinars. The commission said the maintenance committee's survey report was later annulled because the company had not provided the required guarantees. A detention record was issued for the suspect, who was presented to a judge of Iraq's Integrity Court. The judge ordered an investigation to proceed under Article 341 of the Iraqi Penal Code. No further details were immediately available.