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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to convene on Monday to discuss ways to terminate the widespread goods smuggling and lucrative fraud at the Region’s border crossings.
"At the meeting, a decision will be made to revoke the contracts of several inspecting companies at the border crossings," Dara Rashid, the KRG’s minister of planning, told Rudaw.
"Some work and inspections that the KRG can do themselves will be retaken from several private companies. Other companies which remain [employed by the government], will have to operate under the scrutiny of the government," Rashid said, adding that this latest move is part of a larger initiative to reform the border crossings.
A network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dinars worth of goods into the Kurdistan Region through the Parvizkhan crossing at the Iraq-Iran border was uncovered last month, after an investigation by the Kurdistan Region's finance ministry and customs directorate.
Without naming any specific border crossing, Daban Mohammed, a Change Movement (Gorran) MP in the Kurdish legislature, said "in some crossings, goods worth one million dollars a day are smuggled into the Kurdistan Region."
Mohammed added the issue is not just with smugglers and smuggling, but also "21 companies who in many ways make lucrative money and incomes" working at the border-crossings.
PM Masrour Barzani claimed to parliament earlier this month that smuggling at the Region’s border crossings is less prevalent than at the ones in federal Iraq.
"Some border crossings are better than others, but generally, ones in the Kurdistan Region are much better than those in other parts of Iraq,” he said, adding that Baghdad has promised to tackle smuggling at the crossings it controls.
Earlier this month, Samir Hawrami, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani explained that the government has formed a committee to study the issue of smuggling "in detail."
"This so-called smuggling definitely exists at border crossings - not at one specific border crossing, but all those present in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” said Hawrami.
An Iraqi government spokesperson in late September claimed that the Kurdistan Region is the site of the largest agricultural product entry point in Iraq.
"The largest amount of smuggling is taking place at the Parvizkhan border crossing," Hamid Nayf, spokesperson for the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry told Rudaw, claiming the Iraqi government has gained control of illegal smuggling of these products in the central and southern provinces.
There are three official Kurdistan Region-Iran border crossings – Haji Omaran in Erbil province, Parvizkhan in Garmiyan administration and Bashmakh in Sulaimani province – as well as one official crossing - Ibrahim Khalil, between the Region and Turkey and many other unofficial border points.
Ali Hama Salih, a member of the Kurdistan Region's parliament from the Change Movement (Gorran) told Rudaw in early August that security forces are complicit in the illegal activity at the borders.
"All kinds of expired goods are imported into the Kurdistan Region through smuggling networks that have offices inside the cities of the Kurdistan Region, with the help of the security forces," the outspoken MP said.
"I have handed in all the evidence which contains the names and addresses of the parties involved in the smuggling [to the government]," he added.
"At the meeting, a decision will be made to revoke the contracts of several inspecting companies at the border crossings," Dara Rashid, the KRG’s minister of planning, told Rudaw.
"Some work and inspections that the KRG can do themselves will be retaken from several private companies. Other companies which remain [employed by the government], will have to operate under the scrutiny of the government," Rashid said, adding that this latest move is part of a larger initiative to reform the border crossings.
A network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dinars worth of goods into the Kurdistan Region through the Parvizkhan crossing at the Iraq-Iran border was uncovered last month, after an investigation by the Kurdistan Region's finance ministry and customs directorate.
Without naming any specific border crossing, Daban Mohammed, a Change Movement (Gorran) MP in the Kurdish legislature, said "in some crossings, goods worth one million dollars a day are smuggled into the Kurdistan Region."
Mohammed added the issue is not just with smugglers and smuggling, but also "21 companies who in many ways make lucrative money and incomes" working at the border-crossings.
PM Masrour Barzani claimed to parliament earlier this month that smuggling at the Region’s border crossings is less prevalent than at the ones in federal Iraq.
"Some border crossings are better than others, but generally, ones in the Kurdistan Region are much better than those in other parts of Iraq,” he said, adding that Baghdad has promised to tackle smuggling at the crossings it controls.
Earlier this month, Samir Hawrami, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani explained that the government has formed a committee to study the issue of smuggling "in detail."
"This so-called smuggling definitely exists at border crossings - not at one specific border crossing, but all those present in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” said Hawrami.
An Iraqi government spokesperson in late September claimed that the Kurdistan Region is the site of the largest agricultural product entry point in Iraq.
"The largest amount of smuggling is taking place at the Parvizkhan border crossing," Hamid Nayf, spokesperson for the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry told Rudaw, claiming the Iraqi government has gained control of illegal smuggling of these products in the central and southern provinces.
There are three official Kurdistan Region-Iran border crossings – Haji Omaran in Erbil province, Parvizkhan in Garmiyan administration and Bashmakh in Sulaimani province – as well as one official crossing - Ibrahim Khalil, between the Region and Turkey and many other unofficial border points.
Ali Hama Salih, a member of the Kurdistan Region's parliament from the Change Movement (Gorran) told Rudaw in early August that security forces are complicit in the illegal activity at the borders.
"All kinds of expired goods are imported into the Kurdistan Region through smuggling networks that have offices inside the cities of the Kurdistan Region, with the help of the security forces," the outspoken MP said.
"I have handed in all the evidence which contains the names and addresses of the parties involved in the smuggling [to the government]," he added.
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