Iraq court jails electricity firm official for 3 years over illicit gains

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Federal Integrity Commission said a court has sentenced the head of the Financial Affairs Department at Baghdad's Middle Electricity Distribution Company to three years in prison for illicit gains. The Central Criminal Court for Anti-Corruption issued the verdict in absentia, ordering the defendant to return 1.170 billion Iraqi dinars and $203,000 obtained through illegal means, according to the commission. The court also imposed a fine equal to the illicit gains, totaling the same amount in dinars and dollars. The sentence was handed down under the relevant provisions of the Commission on Integrity and Illicit Gains Law. Once the ruling is finalized, the defendant will be required to surrender to the commission a property and an apartment registered in his wife's name in Baghdad's Dawudi and Kerada Mariam districts, valued at 1.1 billion dinars, along with two vehicles worth a combined $223,000. The court ruled that the defendant will not be released even after serving his prison term until he returns the illicit gains and pays the fine. No further details were immediately available.