IRAQ TO INVESTIGATE ‘MONOPOLY’ BEHIND KURDISH OIL WEALTH

National security council will examine revenues and the officials who may have illegally cornered market

Iraq fired a legal broadside at Kurdish officials yesterday as tensions between the two sides over Kurdistan’s independence push escalated.

President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, held a non-binding vote on independence two weeks ago, despite strong objections from neighbours Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and the misgivings of the wider international community as fighting against extremists continues.

The central government responded by banning international flights out of the region and threatening to suspend Kurdish representatives from the national parliament.

Turkey and Iran have threatened to close their borders to oil exports from Kurdistan.

Yesterday, Baghdad’s national security council announced that an investigation has been launched into Kurdistan’s lucrative oil revenues and officials in the region who might have illegally monopolised the market.

The council, headed by Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi, said: “The corrupt will be exposed and the funds recovered” adding that “a list of names” of Kurdish officials who helped organised the referendum had been compiled and “judicial measures have been taken against them”.

The council did not elaborate in its claims.

Baghdad’s central government is also looking to reclaim control of mobile phone companies in the region, including two of the largest telecommunications providers in Iraq.

The government statement did not identify the networks concerned, but it is believed to be directed at Korek and Asiacell, respectively based in the Kurdistan capital Erbil and Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.

Iraq’s third operator, Zain, is based in Baghdad.

“The government committee for national security issued a decision that all mobile phone networks must be under federal control and should be moved to Baghdad,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi vice president Osama Al Nujafi said the Kurdish president has agreed not to act on the results of the referendum if Baghdad ensures the rights of the autonomous Kurdish region.

Mr Al Nujaifi met Mr Barzani on Saturday.

“Mr Barzani said, ‘We will freeze the results of the referendum if we reach an agreement with Baghdad’s central government that ensures the rights of the Kurdish region’,” Mr Al Nuaijfi’s spokesman said yesterday.

Mr Barzani and Mr Al Nujaifi met in Sulaimaniya, where they were attending the funeral of Jalal Talabani, former Iraqi president and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party who died last week.

Ayad Allawi, one of Iraq’s two other vice presidents, was also present at the meeting.

The trio agreed to talks between Baghdad and Erbil with an open agenda and to ensure ongoing meetings between the two sides.

How much weight this agreement carries is unclear, however, after the Iraqi government later rejected the meeting.

“The meeting that took place between president of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani and Iraqi vice presidents Ayad Allawi and Osama Al Nujaifi does not reflect the position of the Iraqi government,” Saad Al Hadithi, the spokesman of prime minister Haider Al Abadi, said on Sunday.

Mr Al Nujaifi’s spokesman said the vice president believed “the decision to hold the Kurdish referendum was unilateral and wrong”.

Following his comments, Mr Allawi claimed there could be a “civil war” over the Kurdish-administered city of Kirkuk if talks over the matter of Kurdish independence are left unresolved.

Mr Allawi urged Mr Barzani and Iraq’s central government to show restraint and resolve disputes over the oil-rich city.

Kirkuk was included in the Kurdish referendum although it falls outside of the autonomous Kurdish region.

The ethnically-mixed city has been administered by Kurdish forces since 2014 after Iraqi troops ran from an offensive by ISIL extremists.

Mr Al Abadi demanded the Kurdish government annul the results and called for joint administration over Kirkuk.

Mr Allawi believes that Kirkuk could be the “flashpoint” that ignites conflict in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, tensions heightened when a video footage emerged of clashes between the rival contingents of bodyguards for Iraq’s president Fuad Masum and vice president Nouri Al Maliki during a memorial service for Mr Talabani in Baghdad.

Baghdad is building up economic pressure on the Kurds in the wake of region’s vote in favour of independence