تزوير كتاب تمليك الأرض السكنية في العراق

RP-Falsification of the book of ownership of residential land in Iraq .pdf

Forgery of official documents in general, and specifically the forgery of land ownership documents in Iraq, is considered a crime that undermines public trust and the private interests of individuals. It constitutes an attack on the state and its institutions, causing harm to them and an assault on private individuals’ property and causing damage to them. It also leads to instability in transactions. Although the legislator has provided legal protection by criminalizing the offense of forgery of these documents and the use thereof, with punishments specified in Articles 289 to 298 of the amended Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, it has not been sufficient due to the lack of a minimum punishment and the issuance of judicial rulings that often do not proportionately match the severity of the crime.

Therefore, it has become necessary for the legislator to intervene and amend these penal provisions or establish specific penalties in the Municipal Administration Law No. 165 of 1964 by tightening the punishment in some instances and setting a minimum and maximum punishment to address the prevalence of forgery of land ownership documents and address the damage incurred by the state and the last buyer of residential land if they acted in good faith. This could be achieved through the enactment of a law or the issuance of a decision by the Council of Ministers that relieves the harm on the state and individuals by not nullifying the property registration in case of proven forgery of the ownership document or its use if the last buyer acted in good faith. The competent authority (the municipality) imposes a multiplied monetary penalty on the forger of the ownership document or the user, to be shared with the other stakeholders from the time of the judicial claim.

Furthermore, this study found that when the Iraqi legislator enacted the General Amnesty Law, it included the accused and convicted individuals accused of forging land ownership documents in this amnesty. This led to the mentioned consequences as the perpetrators took advantage of the loopholes to escape punishment by being included in the amnesty law, resulting in the crime and punishment being dropped for them and evading liability for their negligence by applying general rules. This has caused harm to the state and citizens at different times.

In this case, we call upon the legislator to issue a law or amend existing laws through the study of the situation by a specialized committee that takes into account the interests of the state and citizens, punishes the offender, ensures they are not exempt from punishment and liability for negligence, and secures the protection of state properties as quickly as possible