The decision did not allow putting seizure note on vehicles in public traffic departments based on letters from municipal departments

CoI’s Prevention Office identified a clear irregularity in implementing the decision to impose fines on vehicles for traffic violation by both, the Traffic Directorate of Baghdad - Rusafa and municipal departments.

In its report on the results of its visits to Traffic Directorate of Baghdad - Rusafa and the Municipality of Al-Ghadir to review the procedures followed in the implementation of the resolution, the Office called for reducing the amount of fines imposed on vehicles to the minimum amount (two hundred thousand dinars) instead of the higher limit (two million dinars) to prevent any pressure on the owners of violated vehicles that may make them vulnerable to bargaining.

The report pointed out that the decision of the Revolution Command Council dissolved (No. 296 of 1990) provided for impose fines of no more than one hundred dinars for (washing vehicles in squares, public roads, sidewalks, and throwing waste or dirt from vehicles while traveling or stop on roads), which amended by decision of Economic Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers no. (1) for the year 2009 to be no more than five hundred thousand dinars, and then in 2015 the Committee amended the fine amount to be no less than two hundred thousand dinars neither more than two million dinars.

The report clarified that the decision granted Baghdad Municipality the power to impose fines on vehicles and put seizure note on them until the payment of the fine based on a decision from the competent judge in Baghdad Municipality, pointing out that the decision did not allow to put a seizure note on vehicles at the public traffic departments on the basis of letters from the municipal departments for reasons other than those mentioned in the provisions of the decision, which leads to the inability to dispose of the vehicle.

It noted that the fines are not imposed immediately on the violated vehicles according to official receipts by the authorized employee at the municipality, pointing out that seizure procedures are carried out through letters between the traffic directorate and the municipality without notifying the owner of the vehicle, stressing on notifying the legal department in the General Traffic Directorate to take the correct legal procedures in accordance with the provisions of the said resolution.

The report recommended the Municipality of Baghdad to direct the municipal departments to correct the actions taken in the implementation of the decision in line with the provisions of the relevant items and paragraphs under the supervision of the competent judge at Baghdad Municipality, in addition to notify the office of the Inspector-General of the Municipality to follow up the establishment of a correct mechanism for the procedures taken in the implementation of the resolution with auditing and monitoring the reports of municipal departments.