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KDP and PUK illegally take $ 250 million form oil being
smuggled to Iran, KDP to sue Change's paper |
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KDP and PUK illegally take $ 250 million
form oil being smuggled to Iran, KDP to sue Change's
paper
1.8.2010 |
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Barzani's KDP to sue Change movement's paper
August 1, 2010
ERBIL-Hewlęr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — The Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) led by Kurdistan president Massoud
Barzani has sued a newspaper belonging to the
Kurdish opposition Gorran (Change) Movement for a
billion-dollar compensation after it had published
an article detailing KDP’s alleged involvement in
“oil smuggling” to Iran.
The lawsuit was filed by Fazil Mirani, head of the
political bureau of the KDP, on July 25 in the
Erbil’s Investigative Court and sent to the
newspaper Sunday. It said the paper published a
story aiming to harm the reputation of the party.
The Rozhnama’s article published on July 20 had said
that both KDP and its ruling partner,
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The front-page story of Rozhnama which says KDP and
PUK illegally take $ 250 million form oil being
smuggled to Iran. This article has led the newspaper
to be sued by the KDP. |
Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) led by Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani, take more than $ 250 million a month from
the benefits of the oil being exported to Iran via
tankers on daily bases.
The PUK has not showed any reactions to the story
yet. But the KDP’s sue includes a demand to even
close the weekly newspaper.
KDP considered the story “baseless” and demanded a
billion US dollars from the writer, editor-in-chief
and the concessionaire of the paper.
“We have enough evidence to prove any information
mentioned in the report,” said Sirwan Rashid, the
writer of the story who is also the managing editor,www.ekurd.netcomplaining
that the KDP’s sue violates the Media Law of
Kurdistan passed in 2008 since it asks for the
closure of the newspaper and a heavier fine.
Rozhnama has been acting more as a mouthpiece of the
opposition movement, Gorran, since the July 2009
elections in which it secured almost a third of the
seats of 111-member Parliament of Kurdistan.
Gorran is a break-away movement from Talabani’s PUK
led by Nawshirwan Mustafa, former deputy leader of
Talabani’s party. Gorran run in the both Kurdish and
Iraqi elections as an independent list.
A New York Times
report on July
8 estimated that hundreds of millions of dollars
were generated each year by the reported smuggling
operation.
KRG officials have denied the allegations,
dismissing suggestions that the alleged practice has
been an open secret for years, made possible by
government complicity.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, rudaw net | Agencies
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