MESOP : THE USUAL CORRUPTION – Iraqi Kurdistan govt denies seizing $250 million of oil minister’s wife Chra Rafiq

Nrttv.org – 21 Jan 2016 – HEWLÊR-Erbil, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) released a written statement on Wednesday (Jan. 20) refuting reports that Kurdish authorities have seized some $250 million dollars belonging to an oil “businesswoman”, also wife of the Kurdistan Region’s current oil minister Ashti Hawrami.Hawrami routinely accused of corruption by observers, Kurdish officials and local media.

Many Kurdish politicians and observers believe that many of the oil industry projects in Iraqi Kurdistan are conducted in a non-transparent way. Some have even described them as secretive. “We deny this baseless and fabricated news and is totally away from reality, such thing does never exist and has never happened,” the KRG statement read. The KRG further denied that an investigation committee from the Kurdistan Region presidency has been established to look into the dealings of the unknown business woman Chrak Rafiq. “Neither an investigation committee from the Kurdistan Region presidency has worked on such a matter, nor the lady is the wife of the Minister of Natural Resources and those charges are baseless that she has been accused of.”

“We emphasize those kinds of news are just a part of that dark political campaign against Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] which are included baseless news,” the statement continued.

The Wusha newspaper reported Wednesday that Kurdish authorities seized some $250 million dollars belonging to an oil businesswoman and the wife of the Kurdistan Region’s current Minister of Natural Resources. The Wusha report stated the Kurdistan Presidency formed an investigative committee to look into the dealings of Chrakhan Rafiq, wife of Minister Ashti Hawrami, and that the money is now in a bank in the Kurdistan Region. Wusha also reported that “some officials” attempted to intervene in the matter but that the investigative committee blocked their efforts. Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) members Dilshad Shaaban and Salih Bashar from the Parliament’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources remain silent when asked for confirmation of the seizure, NRT reports.In a post to his Facebook page, Change Movement (Gorran) MP and Energy Committee member Ali Hama Salih said he hoped for similar investigations in the future to fight corruption in the region.