ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s federal integrity commission on Saturday said that it has evidence that several real estate properties were given to a relative of acting Kirkuk Governor Rakan al-Jabouri “in violation of the law,” as the controversial politician seeks to hold onto his highly-coveted position.
The commission said that its media and communication office has monitored Kirkuk’s land plots allocation committee granting two properties to Jabouri’s nephew “in violation of the regulations and instructions.”
“The due investigation and auditing concluded that there was more than one property registered in his [the nephew’s] name during the period of real estate allocation,” the statement added.
This is not the first complaint about corruption within Jabouri’s office and him favoring his family. Dler Zidan, head of Kirkuk’s investment authority, told Rudaw last week that they have filed a complaint against Jabouri after he requested that a housing project, comprising around 235 dunams of land, be granted to his brother.
The corruption allegations against Jabouri continue to pile on. MP Dilan Ghafoor accused the acting governor of gifting several vehicles to the integrity commission’s Kirkuk office.
“An hour after we released a statement on this case to inform the general public, eight cars were moved from the parking garage of the integrity commission to an unknown location,” Ghafoor told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed, adding that they have filed a complaint and called for the security footage to be reviewed.
Jabouri is now leaving the country. In a letter seen by Rudaw English, the acting governor on Saturday assigned his assistant for technical affairs, Ali Hammadi Abd, with the task of overseeing the governorship of Kirkuk, “to handle executive and technical affairs” while Jabouri makes a trip to Turkey of unknown length.
The purpose of the trip is for “receiving medical treatment,” according to the letter.
Kirkuk held provincial council elections around six months ago, but the absence of a clear majority and disagreements between the multi-ethnic province’s different components has blocked the formation of the local administration.
Jabouri was appointed acting governor of Kirkuk in 2017, following the return of the Iraqi federal government to power in the oil-rich city after Kurdish forces were ousted. Kirkuk’s Arab parties have pushed for his term as governor to be renewed, but this has been vehemently rejected by Kurdish parties.
His tenure as governor has been a frequent source of controversy. He is accused by some of attempting to revive the Ba'athist policy of Arabization to weaken the Kurdish population, but others praise him for breathing life back into previously-neglected Arab neighborhoods.
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