Iraqi Kurdistan gov’t urged to return of cash reserves stored abroad

Kurdistan Islamic Movement (Bizutinewey Islami) said the economic crisis would not be tackled by reducing the employees’ salaries but it would be by returning the cash reserves stored abroad.

Kurdistan Islamic Movement Party issued a statement on Saturday (Feb. 6) urging Kurdish authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan to bring back the money which has been stored abroad.

“The decision of the Council of Ministers to save part of the employees’ salaries as a way to solve the economic crisis is incorrect,” the statement said. “The way of reducing the salaries are also unjust and we believe it just makes an impression on people’s lives.”
 
“The decision will bring more problems and will make instability. Officials and some opaque institutions should be investigated to solve the crisis,” the political party concluded.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leaders held a meeting in the region’s capital city, Erbil, on Wednesday (Feb. 3) and decided on a measure to cut government salaries, excluding Peshmerga and interior ministry employees, in an effort to tackle the current economic crisis.

During a press conference held in Erbil the KRG spokesperson Safeen Dizayee said putting the salaries aside is in an attempt to overcome a financial crisis facing the region.

The Kurdistan Islamic Movement Party called on the authorities to “return the cash reserves which has been stored abroad corruptly” instead of reducing the employee salaries.

Similarly, six fractions of the KRG Parliament on Tuesday (Feb. 2) urged authorities to return money taken “illegally” from the Kurdistan Region by companies and politicians.
The Change Movement (Gorran), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), Kurdistan Islamic Movement, Freedom List and Sons of Mesopotamia issued a joint-statement on Tuesday (Feb. 2) calling on the authorities to return the money which has been stored in the international banks back to the region. The original statement from the government officials did not name a source of the claim.

According to the statement, the region’s financial resources and cash reserves have been sent out of the country, which makes the government unable to pay salaries due to the lack of cash flow.

The group’s call came after a number of diplomats and public figures said some companies and politicians took the money out of the Kurdistan Region to international countries, adding the Region now needs the money to tackle its economic crisis.
Similarly, Second Deputy Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Barham Salih said in NRT Tawtwe Program that the money that was taken out of the region by some companies and political leaders “must” be returned to the region.
http://ekurd.net/kur...rves-2016-02-07