"The speaker of the Iraqi parliament does not have knowledge about the number of state houses [former prime minister Haider] al-Abadi and other officials have not yet handed over to the government," read an announcement from the office of speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi on Monday night.
Halbousi was compelled to make the declaration after Ali Sined, a member of the Nasr Coalition led by Abadi, claimed the former premier had handed back the keys of his state residence a month ago and that the speaker was aware of the situation.
The incident was apparently sparked when security guards of current Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi reportedly stormed a building occupied by Abadi in Baghdad.
"The head of Adil Abdul-Mahdi's guards behaved improperly towards us,” Sined had said. “We conveyed our concerns about this misbehavior to Mahdi himself.”
“We handed over the house a month ago with the knowledge of Mohammed al-Halbousi," he added.
This is not the first dispute between Abdul-Mahdi and Abadi who publicly sparred after Abdul-Mahdi and his cabinet decided to cancel decisions made by Abadi’s government during the transition period between their two administrations.
Halbousi said the parliament will take necessary measures to review the distribution of state properties, saying it was done improperly in the past.
"There are some people not even working for the state, yet they maintain control over state houses,” read the statement from his office.
Iraq ranks among the most corrupt nations in the world and tackling the endemic problem is one the many challenges facing Abdul-Mahdi’s government.
On Monday, Abdul-Mahdi chaired his first meeting of the Supreme Council for Combatting Corruption, a body he wants to restructure to make it more effective in deterring corruption.
