HAVEN’T TALABANI BARZANI BEEN LATE TO DECLARE THEIR WEALTH?

As is known, recently 20 Ministers, together with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have declared their wealth. The mentioned initiative is a significant step in terms of struggle with corruption. The new regulations of the Iraqi Transparency Committee stipulate the declaration of wealth by the all civilian authorities, high-ranking military officers, and the local administration authorities. In that framework, all senior level Kurdish authorities, primarily Masud Barzani and Jalal Talabani are expected to declare their wealth as soon as possible. Some Kurdish authorities panicked with these developments and have already started to transfer the money they gained from corruption and irregularities to some countries such as Syria, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates...

All the Iraqi and Kurdish populations know very well that Barzani and Talabani families exploited, profited from, and enriched their family members through that way. In the region, no companies other than the ones that are owned by the PUK and the KDP are allowed to carry out trade activities. It is obvious that the Kurdish people who live in poverty do not receive any share from the money cycling in the country. The interesting point is that neither Barzani nor Talabani feels uneasy about it. However, some members of the PUK, who feel perturbed about the situation, have already started to rise up. Those opponents bemoan about the facts that there is no transparency in the income and expense accounts; that Talabani and his family have financial ambition; and that corruption prevails. Newshirvan Mustafa, the leader of the opponents, highlighted in a meeting he held with the tribe leaders the fact that nobody within the PUK knows how much money the party has and where that money is. Furthermore, Mustafa mentioned in a statement he gave to the Washington Post “each month both the KDP and the PUK receive 35 million Dollars from the budget allocated to N. Iraq by the central government, however nobody knows how that money is spent.” Similar problems are experienced also within the KDP which functions as a family corporation. The Kurdish people are displeased since all the trade activities in N.Iraq are at the monopoly of the Barzani family members.

Another displeasing subject is the salaries of the peshmargas. Every month, the KDP and the PUK each take five million Dollars from the USA to pay the salaries of the peshmargas, however the salaries are not paid. A PUK member who did not want to tell his name stated that the money taken from the USA to pay the salaries of the peshmargas was directly taken to the private office of Jalal Talabani, however they did not know how that money is spent.

Although Barzani and Talabani are not courageous to declare their wealth, it is clear how rich they have become thanks to exploitation, irregularities, and corruption. It is necessary to reveal one by one the wealth of the mentioned individuals before the sources of N.Iraq are exhausted.

By : Mostafa Salayi

IRAQ