Baghdad: A director at the Central Electricity Distribution Company has been handed a severe prison sentence following charges of illicit enrichment. The Federal Integrity Commission announced that the director of the Financial Affairs Department has been sentenced in absentia to three years of rigorous imprisonment.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court issued the verdict, mandating that the convicted individual return illicit gains amounting to 1,170,450,000 Iraqi dinars and 203,000 US dollars. Additionally, the court has imposed a fine equivalent to the value of these illicit gains.

The sentence and fine were determined in accordance with Article 19, Paragraph 3, while the obligation to return the illicit gains was based on Article 19, Paragraph 4 of the Integrity and Illicit Gains Law No. 30 of 2011. Furthermore, the court has ordered the confiscation of shares in a property and an apartment registered under the name of the convicted individual’s wife, located in the Al-Dawudi and Karrada Maryam districts, valued at 1,100,000,000 Iraqi dinars. Two vehicles valued at $223,000 have also been confiscated and handed over to the Integrity Commission for disposal.

The court has stipulated that the convicted director will not be released upon completion of his sentence until he returns the value of the illicit gains and pays the imposed fine. A precautionary seizure has also been placed on his movable and immovable assets. Moreover, the court has granted the Integrity Commission the right to claim compensation after the verdict becomes final.