An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant and travel ban for the former governor of the country’s northern province of Nineveh, Nofal Al-Akoub, over corruption allegations, Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.
In an official statement, the Nineveh Court of Appeals accused Al-Akoub of squandering public funds and abusing his position.
The court’s warrant included the arrest of Akoub’s assistant for administrative affairs, Abdulkarim Al-Jubouri, the contracts department’s director, Wajda Al-Ta’i, and the province’s employee, Mona Abdul Majid Al-Juhaishi. The local officials were accused of “misusing their powers and committing financial violations.”
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The Iraqi parliamentarian, Ahmed Abdullah Al-Jabouri, tweeted a copy of the arrest warrant.
Responding to a formal request by Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Iraq’s parliament voted on Sunday to sack Akoub following the capsize of an overloaded ferry in the Tigris river last week, leaving dozens of people dead.
Abdul Mahdi’s letter to parliament accused the sacked governor of “negligence, dereliction of duty, misusing public funds and abusing power.”
On Friday, the Nineveh provincial council said that the incident’s death toll reached 103 people.