The Central Investigation Court in Rusafa announced today, Monday, the arrest of the largest real estate forgery network in Baghdad. The judiciary council stated in a release that, "After receiving reports about a gang involved in forging properties belonging to the state and citizens in Baghdad, and after judicial decisions were made by the Central Investigation Court in Rusafa, the suspects were arrested."
It added that "the main members of the gang consist of (17) suspects, including (6) employees in the real estate registration offices in (Karkh First, Second, and Abu Ghraib). Many forged documents as well as tools used by the suspects in their forgery operations were seized."
Furthermore, it was noted that "through detailed confessions provided by the suspects, it was revealed that more than (100) properties were forged, most of which belong to the state (Baghdad Municipality and the Ministry of Finance), while the rest belong to citizens residing abroad, registered in the real estate offices in Karkh First, Second, and Abu Ghraib."
The report clarified that "the suspects manipulated the records of the aforementioned registration offices, transferring property ownership to individuals within their gang, and then sold it to other citizens for large amounts." It highlighted that "the court opened an investigation case against them in order to retrieve the properties according to Article (36) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. 39 of 2015."
It further indicated that "their assets have been seized to prevent them from smuggling or disposing of them, and tracking their assets is ongoing, with a freeze placed on them by the Rusafa Investigation Court specialized in integrity and money laundering cases." It mentioned that "manipulation of dozens of properties has been halted, investigations into other forgery operations are ongoing, and efforts are being made to enforce arrest warrants issued against the fugitive suspects, which number more than (60)."
