Iraqi Parliament to sack Finance Minister
Iraqi Parliament to sack Finance Minister
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region
(Kurdistan24) – After the Iraqi Parliament had summoned the Finance Minister on
Thursday, reports suggest that there are plans to withdraw confidence in the
Kurdish minister during the next session.
On Aug. 25, the Iraqi
Parliament called upon Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari over corruption
allegations.
The charges specifically
involved the decreasing of salaries of some employees. Zebari answered
questions raised by some MPs regarding the accusations.
Saturday’s parliament
session ended with a quarrel and fist-fights between Kurdish and Sunni
MPs, and the majority of MPs were still not convinced by Zebari’s answers.
There is now the possibility of
a “no confidence” vote in the next parliamentary session which has been
postponed until Monday.
A majority of the Kurdish MPs
suggest that the summoning of the Kurdish minister in the parliament was
politically motived with no legal and constitutional basis.
Ashwaq Jaff, a Kurdish MP, told
Kurdistan24 that the parliament session was “politically motived.”
Jaff stated that some wrong
decisions were made by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, but the MPs accused the
Finance Minister and held him responsible for the allegations.
A Shia MP told a local Iraqi
news outlet that Zebari’s answers were convincing, and he had been successful
in managing his ministry while the country currently suffers from a financial
crisis.
On Aug. 25, the Iraqi
Parliament voted on the withdrawal of confidence from the Defense Minister
Khalid al-Obeidi with a majority of 142 votes in favor while 102 MPs voted
against the decision.
Previously, On Aug. 1, the
Iraqi Parliament, with the signatures of 60 MPs, summoned Obeidi for
investigations over corruption.
During the session,
Obeidi named some current and former Sunni officials who, according to
him, were involved in corruption and
- 31 August 2016
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