Iraq detains five public officials over alleged damage to state property in Karbala

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Federal Integrity Commission said it detained five people in two operations in the Karbala governorate on charges of damaging public property. The operations were carried out in the Hilla and Kifl water centers, the commission said in a statement. According to the commission, investigators from the Hilla office identified four employees at the Kifl water center accused of irregularities in collection receipts and of failing to hand over collected sums to the cashier. Separately, a department head at Hilla Municipality was detained over the allocation of a plot of land belonging to the Babylon Health Directorate for commercial construction under industrial-land regulations, the commission said. The land allocation allegedly resulted in the non-collection of annual rent totaling about 72 million dinars for the 2023–2026 period, and the property file for the plot was reported to have gone missing while in the suspect's custody. The commission said the investigating judge of the Hilla Corruption Court ordered the detention of all five suspects under Article 340 of the Iraqi Penal Code. No further details were immediately available.