ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi MP who successfully submitted the legal complaint against the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements blamed the Region’s government for failing to handover the required 250,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad and cited it as a motive for his complaint.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against Baghdad's payment of the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements, claiming it violates the 2021 Iraqi Budget Law. The ruling was in response to a complaint made by independent MP Mustafa Sand and Mohammed Mayahi, the governor of Wasit province.
“Since there are problems between the Kurdistan Region and the central government, the region did not deliver or make a financial settlement regarding its mandatory oil sales,” Sand told Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih on Friday, referring to the 250,000 barrels of oil that Erbil is required to handover to Baghdad daily at State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) price.
Sand explained that since the Kurdistan Region is a part of Iraq, the country’s citizens must be entitled to a share of its oil in the same way that the Region’s citizens receive a percentage of the oil extracted from Iraqi provinces, such as his home province of Basra.
“I am the son of Basra, and the wealth of Basra goes left and north without justice and without right. All our taxes and customs revenues, gas, and oil go elsewhere. We produce 3 million barrels [of oil] in Basra, yet our budget does not exceed 1 trillion Iraqi dinars,” he said.
“Our money goes to the center and to the Region, and we believe this is unfair,” he added, affirming that he has “no enmity” towards the Region but that the complaint was to ensure that every region in Iraq is granted equal rights.
As tensions mount between Erbil and Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its president later on Wednesday slammed the Iraqi top court’s decision to block the transfer of budget share to Erbil.
“The court’s new stance, emphasizes on an unjust policy and antagonism against the Kurdistan Region,” the KRG’s statement read, further slamming the court ruling for rolling back on the progress made by the two governments to reach an agreement in accordance with the constitution.
The court’s decision was also slammed by the President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, calling the decision “unjust and tyrannical”.
Much like its response to a federal court ruling against the KRG’s oil and gas sector last year, the regional government challenged the constitutionality of Iraq’s top court.
“This court has not been formed constitutionally and cannot make decisions as a federal court, therefore we reject its decisions and call on the federal government to not act on this decision,” the KRG stated.
Iraq’s top court last February found the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law to be “unconstitutional,” therefore striking down the legal basis for the independence of the Region’s oil and gas sector. The court’s decision was repeatedly slammed by top Kurdish leaders, who challenged the legality of the court and called it “unconstitutional.”
During the interview, the independent MP affirmed that his complaint to the federal court “was not against Erbil, but against Baghdad” for failing to send Basra its rightful share of the budget, and furthermore called on Kurdish officials to dispute the ruling.
“Since the Region did not handover its oil to Iraq and its customs and tax revenues, sums should not be deducted from the oil of the south and center [of Iraq]” to send to the Region, he stated.
Unable to reach a final agreement over the Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget and independent oil sales at the time, an agreement was made between the KRG and the Iraqi federal government in 2021 where Baghdad would send 200 billion dinars ($125 million) monthly to the Kurdistan Region.
The newly-formed Iraqi cabinet, headed by Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, recently approved the payment of 400 billion dinars ($250 million) to the Region for the months of November and December last year, however, the federal court decision forbids the payment from materializing.
Sand, however, expressed doubt about the Region’s budget share, citing “randomness” in the allocated budget and believing that Erbil needs less than 200 billion dinars to pay the salaries of its employees.
The budget has been a point of contention between Erbil and Baghdad for several years, especially after the Kurdistan Region's decision to sell its oil through Turkey, and the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq in 2014.
Almost two years after Iraq passed its last budget law, Erbil and Baghdad remain in disagreement over several different issues.
Kurdish government delegations have traveled to Baghdad on several occasions to reach a common ground with the Iraqi government, however, none of the visits have had a solid outcome.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against Baghdad's payment of the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements, claiming it violates the 2021 Iraqi Budget Law. The ruling was in response to a complaint made by independent MP Mustafa Sand and Mohammed Mayahi, the governor of Wasit province.
“Since there are problems between the Kurdistan Region and the central government, the region did not deliver or make a financial settlement regarding its mandatory oil sales,” Sand told Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih on Friday, referring to the 250,000 barrels of oil that Erbil is required to handover to Baghdad daily at State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) price.
Sand explained that since the Kurdistan Region is a part of Iraq, the country’s citizens must be entitled to a share of its oil in the same way that the Region’s citizens receive a percentage of the oil extracted from Iraqi provinces, such as his home province of Basra.
“I am the son of Basra, and the wealth of Basra goes left and north without justice and without right. All our taxes and customs revenues, gas, and oil go elsewhere. We produce 3 million barrels [of oil] in Basra, yet our budget does not exceed 1 trillion Iraqi dinars,” he said.
“Our money goes to the center and to the Region, and we believe this is unfair,” he added, affirming that he has “no enmity” towards the Region but that the complaint was to ensure that every region in Iraq is granted equal rights.
As tensions mount between Erbil and Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its president later on Wednesday slammed the Iraqi top court’s decision to block the transfer of budget share to Erbil.
“The court’s new stance, emphasizes on an unjust policy and antagonism against the Kurdistan Region,” the KRG’s statement read, further slamming the court ruling for rolling back on the progress made by the two governments to reach an agreement in accordance with the constitution.
The court’s decision was also slammed by the President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, calling the decision “unjust and tyrannical”.
Much like its response to a federal court ruling against the KRG’s oil and gas sector last year, the regional government challenged the constitutionality of Iraq’s top court.
“This court has not been formed constitutionally and cannot make decisions as a federal court, therefore we reject its decisions and call on the federal government to not act on this decision,” the KRG stated.
Iraq’s top court last February found the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law to be “unconstitutional,” therefore striking down the legal basis for the independence of the Region’s oil and gas sector. The court’s decision was repeatedly slammed by top Kurdish leaders, who challenged the legality of the court and called it “unconstitutional.”
During the interview, the independent MP affirmed that his complaint to the federal court “was not against Erbil, but against Baghdad” for failing to send Basra its rightful share of the budget, and furthermore called on Kurdish officials to dispute the ruling.
“Since the Region did not handover its oil to Iraq and its customs and tax revenues, sums should not be deducted from the oil of the south and center [of Iraq]” to send to the Region, he stated.
Unable to reach a final agreement over the Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget and independent oil sales at the time, an agreement was made between the KRG and the Iraqi federal government in 2021 where Baghdad would send 200 billion dinars ($125 million) monthly to the Kurdistan Region.
The newly-formed Iraqi cabinet, headed by Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, recently approved the payment of 400 billion dinars ($250 million) to the Region for the months of November and December last year, however, the federal court decision forbids the payment from materializing.
Sand, however, expressed doubt about the Region’s budget share, citing “randomness” in the allocated budget and believing that Erbil needs less than 200 billion dinars to pay the salaries of its employees.
The budget has been a point of contention between Erbil and Baghdad for several years, especially after the Kurdistan Region's decision to sell its oil through Turkey, and the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq in 2014.
Almost two years after Iraq passed its last budget law, Erbil and Baghdad remain in disagreement over several different issues.
Kurdish government delegations have traveled to Baghdad on several occasions to reach a common ground with the Iraqi government, however, none of the visits have had a solid outcome.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment