Baqubah Municipality land-allocation fraud: in-absentia conviction of Saad Nasr Alwan (2026)
Iraq's Federal Commission of Integrity prosecuted Saad Nasr Alwan, a former director of the Baqubah municipal directorate (Diyala's provincial capital), over a residential plot properly allocated to a deceased journalist. When the journalist's widow later sought to register the plot, she found it had, without a valid allocation order, in violation of regulations, been reassigned to someone else. The Diyala Felony Court (First Panel) convicted Alwan in absentia under Penal Code Article 340 for intentionally damaging public funds and breaching his official duties, sentencing him in January 2026 to five years' rigorous imprisonment, ordering a general arrest warrant, seizure of his movable and immovable assets, and preserving the widow's compensation claim.
- Period
- January 2026
- Sector
- Land and propertyMunicipal land-allocation fraud
- Kind of case
- Criminal prosecution
- Jurisdiction
- Federal Iraq
How the money moved
A municipal director allegedly diverted a plot already documented as allocated to one beneficiary to a different recipient, without a valid new allocation order, an internal land-records diversion.
What happened
Convicted and sentenced in absentia; remained a fugitive; unclear whether the plot was restored to the widow's family.
Open questions
- Exact dates of the original and improper allocations; whether an earlier around September 2025 report of a separate 'two-year' in-absentia sentence against a 'former director of Baqubah municipality' concerns the same person or proceeding or a different one.
People and companies
| Name | Role in the case | Legal status | Detail | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saad Nasr Alwan سعد نصر علوان | Former director, Baqubah Municipality Directorate (Diyala's capital) | Convicted (reported) | Convicted in absentia by the Diyala Felony Court (First Panel) under Penal Code Article 340 (with Articles 47 to 49), for intentionally damaging public funds by reallocating, without a valid allocation order, in violation of regulations, a residential plot already documented as allocated to a deceased journalist, to a different recipient; the journalist's widow discovered this when she sought to register the plot. Sentenced January 2026 (reported 18 January) to five years' rigorous imprisonment; a general arrest warrant was issued and his movable and immovable assets ordered seized; the widow's compensation claim was preserved. | 28 September 2026 |
Sources
- Shafaq NewsJanuary 2026Press reportTier D
النزاهة: الحكم بالحبس الشديد لمسؤول محلي سابق في ديالى (Integrity: hard-imprisonment verdict for a former local official in Diyala)
Originalغيابياً... خمس سنوات... لإضراره عمداً بالمال العام... تخصيص عقار في إحدى النواحي خلافاً للضوابط (in absentia, five years, for intentionally damaging public funds by allocating a property in one district contrary to regulations)
- Alsumaria TVJanuary 2026Press reportTier D
لإضراره بالمال العام.. النزاهة: الحبس الشديد لمدير بلدية بعقوبة السابق (For damaging public funds: Integrity says hard imprisonment for the former director of Baqubah municipality)
Original - 964 Media18 January 2026Press reportTier D
Former Baqubah mayor sentenced to five years over land forgery
Originalintentionally causing damage to public funds, breaching his official duties, and allocating a property in one of the districts contrary to regulations