Peregraf- Surkew Mohammed
Aram Sheikh Muhammad, previous Iraqi Parliament Second Deputy Speaker, has left his position. Yet he has confiscated some public property and is not ready to hand them back, according to four Peregraf sources.
As claimed by some statements and an Iraqi government document that have reached Peregraf, Aram Sheikh Muhammad is not alone in confiscating public property; a number of other Iraqi officials have retained public properties and have not handed them over to the government. However, according to the sources, the difference in Arams case lies in the fact that Aram belongs to a party that considers itself as "the epitome of perfection and renouncer of corruption." expressed by the motto of the Change Movement and the party now is facing criticism due to this case.
Aram Sheikh Muhammad speaks to Peregraf about the matter and explains that he is willing to return the car for which he has received a formal request. But he is not willing to speak about returning the other public properties.
"Aram is still having some expensive brand new cars and a village in Baghdad and he is not ready to return them." A Source told Peregraf, and two other sources confirmed the same information.
Another source claims that "Aram took onboard employees who do not work and get paid. This is considered as corruption as Aram has now no connection with the Parliament and is not eligible for retirement either."
The sources of the news did not want to reveal their identities for fear of personal problems. But they believe that it is better to hand the case to the media because it is essential for a party which considers itself as a renouncer of corruption to question its members that have positions on the share of the party.
At the same time, the Change Movement is now taken up with selecting people for its positions that it will take in new KRG cabinet. One of the position is the Deputy Prime Minister.
Peregraf has known from its sources that Bashar Hadid, who took Arams position as Iraqi Parliament Second Deputy Speaker, "complained to senior officials of Change Movement and asked them to return the village and the cars."
Another source from the Iraqi Parliament told Peregraf"Dr Bahir, who still stays at Rahid Hotel in Baghdad, is waiting for Aram to return the village so that he can visit it since the village is assigned to an Iraqi Parliament Second Deputy Speaker"
From 2003 onwards, corruption has known significant expansion while transparency has gradually diminished. According to the latest report of the International Transparency, out of 180 countries, Iraq is ranked 168th among the most corrupted countries and ranked 12th among the least transparent countries.
The worst rank that Iraq had achieved was 178th in 2007, and the best position was 113th in 2003.
As claimed by an official Iraqi document, Aram Sheikh Muhammad is among the officials who have not returned public property.
The document is from the Iraqi government and it has been sent to the previous Iraqi President and some other Iraqi officials, one of whom is Aram Sheikh Muhammad. Roj Nuri Shaways, a senior official in KDP and the previous Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, featured in the list. They are the only three Kurdish officials whose names appeared in the document.
In accordance with the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers decisions, the document requests that the public cars are to be returned to the government. And the document also allows the departments of the government to sell the cars to the people who have used them according to official regulations.
Peregraf knew that the name of Aram Sheikh Muhammad had been mentioned in the document with reference to only one of the cars he holds to. The car is owned by the Council of Minister and it is of Mercedes brand.
Aram Sheikh Muhammad spoke to Peregraf about the particular document and explained"Yes, I do have the car of the Council of Ministers. It is a single car and I took it from the committee and I am waiting for them to be able to hand it back."
Peregraf wanted to ask him further questions about the village in Baghdad but he did not wish to reply or to talk about the other properties.
The document of The Secretary General of the Iraqi Council of Ministers
Peregraf knows that when Aram was in his position, his bureau had 30 cars. The Finance Committee of the Iraqi Parliament Council wants to work on the case and return public properties confiscated by officials to the state.
Senior officials from the Change Movement are aware of the case but so far no investigation from its part has been done. According to the source, "this case has a negative impact on the reputation of the Change Movements members in the Iraqi Parliament Council."
An source from the Iraqi Parliament who preferred to remain anonymous and not coming from the Change Movement, told Peregraf: "Based on their motto, he should have said that he would not take it although he had full right to do so, and not confiscate it as this is not allowed. At the expense of the Change Movements reputation in Baghdad, sometimes Kurdish and Arab members say it to the face of the Change members."
Peregraf conducted an investigation that took several weeks. It spoke to Change officials and they said that they knew about the case and there were others in the movement who are accused of corruption.
Some Change officials say that "since they are busy with forming the new KRG they could not follow the case of people who took positions from the movements share." But some others do not hide that "in the movement there is not a strong will to monitor and question the corrupted people."
Related to the case of Aram Muhammad, one official of the movement said "Aram cannot deny that he did not work in accordance with the movements principles."
From its foundation, Change Movement hold the motto of renouncing corruption and bring about improvements in the government which was the reason for its popularity. Returning the public properties confiscated by the officials to the state is one of the mottos that it has always emphasized on.
In a Movements declaration to the public and Kurdish political parties in 2011, the case of returning public property to the state was one of the seven points of the declaration. Point 6 said "the return of public properties that have been confiscated by people, the parties, and the officials."