Baquba: The Federal Integrity Commission announced the arrest of five employees from the Diyala branch of the General Authority for Taxes, implicating them in the mismanagement of public funds amounting to two billion dinars. These arrests come as part of a broader investigation into the failure to collect due amounts owed to the state treasury.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, a specialized team from the Investigation and Judicial Control Division of the Diyala Investigation Office was tasked with scrutinizing the operations of the General Authority for Taxes in the governorate. Their investigations revealed significant negligence by five assessors in the collection of taxes, particularly concerning violations in the livestock and fruit markets. This negligence allowed several taxpayers to evade nearly two billion dinars in owed taxes, significantly impacting the state's financial resources.

The Commission's statement highlighted that the employees' misconduct inflicted considerable damage on the interests and funds of the General Authority for Taxes. In response to these violations, authorities were able to recover 703,403,000 dinars through various measures, including placing liens on the assets of eight non-compliant taxpayers. Furthermore, the investigating judge in Baquba, who specializes in integrity cases, has ordered the detention of the accused employees under the provisions of Article 341 of the Penal Code.