Baghdad Mayoralty funds: IQD 17 billion taken by staff in 2009, a life sentence and money recovered from Lebanon, and a USD 6 million illicit enrichment ruling (from 2009 to 2026)

In November 2009 the Baghdad Mayoralty said that several of its employees had taken about IQD 17 billion and that some had been arrested; the main accused, employee Zeina Saud Fraih, fled abroad. Lebanon handed her over through Interpol on 19 June 2010. On 20 January 2013 the Rusafa criminal court sentenced her to life imprisonment for the embezzlement of about IQD 14 billion and ordered the confiscation of her property, including money held in banks in Jordan and Lebanon and property in Beirut. In April 2022 the Integrity Commission said a Beirut appeals court had ordered USD 9,384,499, held in five Lebanese banks under false names, and an apartment in Ras Beirut to be handed to the Iraqi government. In January 2026 the Commission said a further USD 3,014,457 had been recovered through the Iraqi embassy in Beirut. Separately, in June 2024 the Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court sentenced a retired employee of the mayoralty's water department to one year, a fine of USD 6 million and repayment of USD 6 million of illicit gain.