Mosul integrity court detains former municipality director

Shafaq News- Mosul

A judicial authority handling public-corruption cases in Mosul, Nineveh Province, ordered the detention of the city's former municipality director, Abdul Sattar al-Habu, along with the former head of its industrial cities sector, pending an investigation into the alleged misuse of public land.

A security source told Shafaq News on Thursday that the two former officials are being held for seven days under an order issued by an integrity investigation judge, allowing authorities until July 9 to complete questioning and compile their findings.

At the center of the case, the source revealed, is the approval of a commercial tourist restaurant built on a plot reserved as a protected green zone on the eastern bank of Mosul, an area legally off-limits to development.

Iraq's integrity courts fall under the Commission of Integrity, the federal body responsible for investigating corruption by public officials. Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province in northern Iraq, has undergone extensive reconstruction since it was retaken from ISIS in 2017, a process involving large volumes of public land and municipal contracting.

Read more: Nineveh Council lifts building restrictions on Mosul outskirts