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Iraq sentences ex-senior banking official to jail following corruption trial

October 14, 2020 at 5:26 pm

An Iraqi counts his dinar banknotes on 22 June 2017 [Ali Choukeir/AFP/Getty Images]

An Iraqi criminal court sentenced a bank official to six years in prison on corruption charges.

Mohamed Khafaji, the former director of the Agricultural Bank, was convicted of wasting around 600 billion Iraqi dinars (around $500,000) between 2011 and 2014.

Based on the ruling, which is preliminary and may be appealed, Khafaji was ordered to be arrested and have his assets frozen.

In the past weeks, Iraqi authorities arrested a number of officials in financial institutions over accusations of corruption.

In August, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi formed a special committee to investigate corruption, while protesters have been demanding an end to corruption which has left the country financially crippled.

Iraq tops the countries where corruption is most prevalent, according to Transparency International.

READ: Ex-oil executive sentenced in Iraq bribery case