Lawmaker from the Change Movement Ali Hama Salih speaks in a press conference in Erbil, December 18, 2019.

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SULAIMANI — The cost of the corruption that occurs at the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings amounts to nearly $40 million per month, a lawmaker from the Change Movement (Gorran) said on Wednesday (December 18).

During a press conference outside the Kurdistan Parliament, Ali Hama Salih said that the figure was revealed as a part of a three-month investigation by lawmakers.

He noted that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers had formed committees to investigate the issue, but said that the problem remained pervasive.

The lawmaker claimed that several companies had been granted amnesties in order to pay millions of dollars in taxes they had failed to pay, but argued that this itself presented problems.

“No companies producing oil have paid taxes,” he continued. “There was a company that has been amnestied, but granting an amnesty is not within the power of any government official.”

“There have been companies which have received $10 million or $5 million without doing any serious work.”

On Tuesday, head of Iraq’s border crossings directorate Kadhim al-Iqabi told NRT Digital Media that activities at the border crossings were not subject to political or partisan interference, but noted that there were occasionally issues at some of the crossings that “are far from the central government.”

Salih said lawmakers would keep monitoring the government’s plans to reform the border crossings and ensure that all revenue collected there goes to public coffers.

Referring to corruption in the oil fields, Salih said that security contracts had been given to sons of senior officials, despite the fact that there is an official security force stood up for the purpose.

“The consequence is that part of the oil revenue does not return [to the government],” he added.

For many years, transparency organizations, lawmakers, and international organizations have accused senior KRG officials of corruption, especially with regard to expropriation of the Region's oil income. The government has long promised action to combat graft, but has never made much headway.

There have been few, if any, high-level corruption prosecutions resulting in substantive penalties recently that would back up KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani's assertions of progress against systemic abuse.

(NRT Digital Media)