Flames are seen at the Baba Gurgur oil field in Kirkuk, Iraq, August 3, 2009. Photo: Reuters
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— A lawmaker in Iraqi parliament has alleged that more than 40 oilfields in disputed areas in Nineveh are operating under the direct control of companies owned by the Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and are guarded by security forces affiliated with the party.
Change Movement (Gorran) MP Ghalib Muhammad wrote on his official Facebook page on Friday that the income generated by these fields is not being transferred to either the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or the federal government.
“You can see the [KRG] natural resources ministry’s data, which does not reference to those oilfields; nor are their income sent to the Iraqi [government] treasury,” Muhammad said.
“More than that, those companies, along with a number partisan armed forces, have spoiled the lives of the villages and the roads in the area, are not offering even a minimum-level of services to the people, and are preventing the reconstruction of Wardak village and its surrounding population, despite taking the oil.”
Residents of several villages on the Nineveh Plain protested on Thursday against the companies and the lack of services. The demonstrations were broken up by the KDP’s security forces and arrested a number of villagers.
The Gorran parliamentarian condemned the attack on the demonstrators.
“We will work seriously to put an end to this pillage that has been going on for several years.”
Gorran sits in government in the KRG with the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Kurdistan considered as the most corrupted part of Iraq. According to Kurdish lawmakers and leaked documents billions of dollars are missing from Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil revenues.
In August 2019 a lawsuit has been brought against the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG – and also personally against the former Minister of Natural Resources and current assistant prime minister for energy affairs, Abdullah Abdul Rahman Abdullah (commonly known as Ashti Hawrami) – alleging a range of illegal practices.
According to observers such illegal oil activities and practices occurred with the full knowledge of the ruling Barzani family.
The Barzani clan control a large number of commercial enterprises and involved in oil business in Iraqi Kurdistan, with a gross value of several billion US dollars, according to observers.
The Barzanis have been routinely accused by critics of amassing huge wealth from oil business for the family instead of serving the population. KDP party leader and ex-president Massoud Barzani remains the most powerful leader in the shadow, his son Masrour is the Kurdistan region’s prime minister and his nephew Nechirvan Barzani is president of Kurdistan.
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