In Baghdad – IA
The Federal Integrity Commission announced today, Monday, that it was able to arrest 6 defendants at the Shalamcheh port and the Safwan border customs center, in addition to seizing 60 cars loaded with more than 400 tons of iron, the weights of which had been tampered with.
A statement by the Authority’s Government Information and Communications Office, received by the (INA), stated that “the Basra Investigation Directorate’s work team was able to arrest an employee at the Shalamcheh border crossing for delivering the first items of about (60) trucks carrying a “trailer” loaded with shish iron material to the owner of the Authority. The importing company, in exchange for obtaining sums of money,” indicating that “the purpose of the manipulation of the weights, which was carried out in agreement with the scale employee, is to evade paying customs duties.”
The statement added, “This act led to a waste of public money,” noting that “60 cars loaded with iron and their pallets were seized, in addition to five drivers.”
He pointed to “the decision of the judge of the investigative court specialized in examining integrity cases in Basra to arrest the accused in accordance with the provisions of Articles (340) of the Penal Code and (194) of the Customs Law.”
The statement continued, “At the Safwan border customs port, the directorate’s work team was able to arrest a customs broker red-handed while receiving the first installment of the bribe amounting to four million Iraqi dinars, and to thwart an attempt to enter one of the cars that is not allowed to be entered in an illegal manner in agreement with employees in The port and customs,” noting that “they controlled the transaction of the car in the possession of the accused, who explicitly admitted to receiving the money in exchange for removing the cars from the port in violation of the law.”