“Employees’ salaries for October will be given on the basis of the biometric system. In the first phase, salaries of civilian employees will be suspended if they fail to register. In the second phase, salaries of military personnel and pensioners will be suspended if they fail to register,” Samir Hawrami, spokesperson for the biometric system and media secretary for Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, told Rudaw.
On October 10, 2016 the government launched the mandatory biometric system as part of austerity measures. The goal of the program was to cut down the government’s bloated payroll by eliminating so-called ghost employees and creating a clean list of government workers.
Thousands of ghost employees and widespread fraud were uncovered during the registration phases of the biometric program.
The registration of employees has now finished, except for some security agencies. Hawrami said fewer than 1,000 civilian employees have failed to register in the biometric system.
“The Council of Ministers should make a special decision for these people because the registration process for civilian employees has stopped,” he said.
The official said they have yet to take measures against those who were illegally receiving more than one salary. Under the new strictly regulated system, it is expected that the salaries of tens of thousands of people will be cut.
Over 1.2 million have registered.
