Three Al-Diwaniyah officials detained in widening forgery case

Shafaq News- Al-Diwaniyah

Iraqi authorities arrested three officials from Al-Diwaniyah Municipality on Sunday as part of an expanding investigation into an alleged forgery network accused of fraudulently obtaining land, loans, and public funds.

A security source told Shafaq News that personnel from Al-Suqoor (Falcons) Intelligence Cell, accompanied by a team from the Federal Integrity Commission, detained the officials in the Umm Al-Khail area of central Al-Diwaniyah.

The detainees were identified as Deputy Municipality Director Ghaith Al-Fatlawi, Municipality Audit Director Iyad Khawam, and sector official Karrar Al-Khaqani.

Earlier, the Integrity Commission announced the dismantling of a "dangerous" forgery network involving public employees, lawyers, and others. The commission said investigators had arrested 13 suspects in the governorate and uncovered 243 forged loan applications submitted to 12 state-owned banks, alongside fraudulent documents used to obtain land plots and public compensation payments.

According to the commission, investigators also seized more than 600 forged residency certificates and civil registry documents allegedly used in transactions involving municipal authorities, banks, courts, the Martyrs Foundation, the Pension Authority and the committee responsible for implementing Article 140 of Iraq's constitution.

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