“In the first phase and in Sulaimani alone, we returned 500,000 square metres of land to public property through assistance from the city’s municipality, our insistence to follow through on the decision to do so, and support from the law enforcement agencies. I reassure everyone that we will continue doing so in other places,” Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani announced in a Facebook post.
“When we first decided to reclaim the land seized by authorities, we knew the process would not be easy and will face many difficulties,” Talabani added.
Last month, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) gave more power to its anti-corruption agency tasked with combatting rampant corruption in the region. Under the new rules, investigators were given legal powers to address both small and major cases of corruption.
"Confronting corruption in the current political environment which is loaded with tensions and rivalries has not been an easy task; it's like working in a minefield," Judge Ahmed Anwar, head of the Integrity Committee, said December last year.
There are no specific statistics available for the Kurdistan Region regarding the level of corruption but Iraq has repeatedly topped the list of the least transparent nations in the past decade.
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