"Whatever pertains to us will be presented legally and transparently so that they become the keys to unlocking the closed doors,” Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir told journalists.
They will present their biometric and other data of the employee list to the technical committee and will provide logistical support for the duration of time they spend in Sulaimani, the governor explained.
"This committee does not have decision-making power. It has the power to conduct an audit and prepare a report for their respective authority,” Abubakir pointed out.
This is the second audit committee from Baghdad to arrive in the Kurdistan Region, according to Samir Hawrami, media officer for Deputy KRG Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.
"This second committee, composed of 22 individuals, arrived in Sulaimani today to audit the employee payroll of Kurdistan Region's Sulaimani province,” Hawrami explained.
According to Hawrami, the committee that audited the payrolls of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education reported no anomalies and found that the data provided by the KRG were accurate.
The current committee in Sulaimani will not audit the payrolls of those two ministries, which is already assigned to another committee.
The KRG has been unable to pay full salaries ever since its budget was cut by the Iraqi government in 2014. Its economic situation further deteriorated with the loss of Kirkuk last October, slashing its oil revenues by half.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed more than once to send salary payments for KRG employees, but he has expressed concern about corruption and said he does not want political parties in the Kurdistan Region to benefit from the funds.
The Kurdistan Region parliament has passed some articles of a reform bill to eliminate double salary takers and ghost employees in a bid to cut its bloated payroll.
