Baghdad — When the Iraqi Commission of Integrity Court entered a default judgment Oct. 16 against the head of the Karbala Real Estate Registration Directorate, ordering her imprisonment for tampering with citizens' real estate records, it came not as a surprise but rather as a manifestation of a known underlying phenomenon.
This situation has been raising both popular and governmental concern, as it has spread to various regions, such as Babil, south of Baghdad, where a case of corruption was reported at the Real Estate Registration Directorate earlier this year. In Baghdad, this phenomenon is even more pervasive, according to the parliamentary integrity commission's annual report published March 3; this prompted an investigation into forged property deeds.