Iraq court sentences electricity company official to 3 years, orders return of 3 billion dinars

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Federal Integrity Commission said a central criminal court in Baghdad has sentenced the head of the financial affairs department at the Central Electricity Distribution Company to three years in prison for unlawful gains. The Anti-Corruption Central Criminal Court also ordered him to repay 1.17 billion Iraqi dinars and $203,000 obtained through the offense, and imposed a fine of the same amount. The prison sentence and fine were issued under Article 19, Paragraph 3 of the Integrity Commission Law, while the restitution order was issued under Paragraph 4 of the same article. The commission did not name the defendant or specify the time frame of the alleged offenses. The court further ruled the confiscation of an apartment registered in the name of the defendant's wife in Baghdad's Dawudi and Karada Mariam districts, valued at 1.1 billion dinars, as well as two vehicles worth $223,000. It also ordered that the defendant not be released at the end of his sentence until the unlawful gains are returned and the fine is paid.