SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Iraqi federal court ruled on Sunday to suspend procedures for the nomination of Hoshyar Zebari for the position of Iraqi president, following corruption allegations against him.
The Federal Supreme Court held a session on Sunday to rule on the nomination of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) candidate Zebari for the presidency position.
The second Karkh investigating court said in a communique it sent to the federal court that it had conducted an investigation into a case filed against Zebari accused of wasting billions of dinars when he was the foreign minister between 2005 and 2014.
The lawsuit was filed by lawmakers Dilan Ghafour Salih and Ali Turki Jasoumi against Zebari, the court said in the communique dated February 1.
The court further said Zebari had disbursed “sums of money as rents to a number of guards of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in violation of the law, amounting to 3,771,020,844 dinars, despite the objection of the administrative authorities to the spending”.
The federal court ruled to “suspend the procedures for electing Hoshyar Mahmoud Mohammed Zebari for the post of President of the Republic temporarily until the case is resolved”.
The court further said the acceptance of Zebari’s nominee by the Council of Representatives “violates the constitutional terms because he has no provisos stated in Article 68 of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution”.
Dozens of Iraqis protested against Zebari’s nomination due to corruption allegations against him.
In 2016, Iraqi parliament sacked Zebari from his post as finance minister over alleged corruptions and misuse of public funds. Zebari denied the accusations.
Zebari, who also served as Iraq’s foreign minister for more than a decade, lost a no-confidence vote by 158 to 77.
Following the protests and the court’s investigation into Zebari’s case, the Sadrist movement, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, said it would boycott a session called next week to elect the country’s president.
The 73-member bloc’s parliamentary chief, Hassan Adhari, said in a news conference that they would not attend Monday’s session in the 329-seat house, making a vote unlikely although technically a quorum could be reached.
“By order of the leader of the Sadrist Movement, it was also decided to freeze negotiations with the political blocs regarding the formation of the government,” Azari said in a press conference.
The announcement came one day after Sadr called on the lawmakers not to vote for candidates if they don’t meet presidential requirements.
“If the candidate of our ally Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] or any other candidate for the position of the Republic’s president doesn’t meet all the requirements, I call on the reform representatives not to vote from him,” Sadr said in a tweet.
“We are advocates of reform, not advocates of authority and rule,” he added.
Under an unofficial agreement dating back to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s presidency — a largely ceremonial role — is held by a Kurd, while the prime minister is Shia and the parliament speaker is Sunni.
Barham Salih, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) candidate, officially announced his candidacy for the second term of the presidency on Tuesday, saying he had proposed projects to eliminate corruption and to revive the country and its resources.
“The president of the Republic must be the president of all Iraqis,” Salih said in a televised speech. “I am committed to supporting national people and I won’t allow any pressure that disrespects the position of president.”
