KRG Ministry of Finance cuts more than 10,000 illegal salaries

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Finance said on Monday that it has cut more than 10,000 illegal salaries and allowances as part of reforms passed in January last year.

The decree signed by Kurdistan Region Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab ordered the suspension of 10,609 salaries and pensions of people receiving double payments from the government, as indicated by the KRG's biometric system.

"Anyone that has suffered loss as a result of this decree, can file a complaint to officials or their department in a specific amount of time," the decree added, without specifying the time period in which a complaint can be lodged.

In November, the KRG Biometric High Committee said 106,839 people receive more than one sort of civil service income or benefit from the KRG. Former political prisoners and the children of martyrs are among groups who receive extra support from the state, legal under Kurdish law.

The committee also stated that they had found that 16,505 of this number receive illegal payments.

Some individuals receive pensions despite having never served in government or security institutions, while other Peshmerga veterans receive payments for the war wounded despite not qualifying as such, officials have previously told Rudaw.

The decree comes as part of a contentious reform law passed in January 2020. The legislation aims to eliminate ghost employees and claims of more than one civil service salary, reduce MP pensions and standardize retirement regulations.

Steps to implement the law began with the restructuring of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs pensions in July. 

The finance ministry’s pension directorate said it was updating its database system to be able to catch out unlawful beneficiaries.

"Our database rejects names that have been retired unlawfully," Remand Khalid, the head of the directorate, told Rudaw. "Our database is so advanced that it will be able to distinguish the unlawful pensions from the authentic ones."

The KRG’s new biometric system has led to “thousands” of pay cuts, a deputy prime minister spokesperson told Rudaw in November.