ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s integrity commission on Tuesday announced it had prevented the waste of 24 billion dinars (nearly $16 million) of public funds in Babil, following auditing and follow up in a transport ministry department in the province.

The commission said it halted the registration procedures of “57 properties” belonging to the Babil railways department. “The department had undervalued the properties and sold them to its employees at prices far below their actual market value,” read a statement from the federal body.

The department still fully owned 31 of the assets at the time of the discovery, while 26 properties had been sold “without subdivision,” amounting to a total potential loss of nearly 24 billion dinars, according to the statement.

The finding comes as the Iraqi government has renewed an anti-corruption campaign, which started with a sweeping raid of Baghdad’s Green Zone in late June, in a bid to return embezzled and wasted revenues to the state.

Baghdad already struggles with budget shortages, exacerbated by months of diminished oil exports owing to regional escalations and the restrictions imposed on the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier in October, Baghdad resorted to lowering the value of dinar from 1,320 per US dollar to 1,520 to ensure the monthly payment of civil servants, according to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.

The integrity commission in September announced the dismantling of a network allegedly involved in concealing the ownership of around 170 properties “valued at tens of billions” of dinars in Baghdad and Babil.

In late August, it said it prevented the sale of a 550-dunam state property in Anbar, saving over 19 billion dinars in the process.