PUK’s counter-terror unit denies smuggling link

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The counter-terrorism directorate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Friday denied any connection to smuggling. The directorate was one of the agencies that witnessed a recent power struggle at the highest level of the PUK. 

The Sulaimani-based directorate said in a statement published by party-affiliated media on Friday that it has no connection with “any illegal work, smuggling, extortion, or confiscation of publicly-owned land and property.”

There are allegations that PUK officials have smuggled goods into Sulaimani from Iran at crossing borders like Bashmakh, evading customs taxes and thereby reducing the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) revenues. Lawmakers from PUK’s rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), have accused the PUK of failing to send Sulaimani’s revenues to the government’s coffers on time and in full, leaving Erbil struggling to meet its payroll.

The counter-terrorism directorate claimed some officials have used the directorate’s name for personal gain through corruption, smuggling, and extortion. 

“The truth is that some irresponsible people, against our will and on the demand of some law-breaking people, have exploited the name of this institution for illegal work and abuse public interest. These people were not officially affiliated with the counterterrorism directorate,” the directorate stated. 

Some people who were allegedly involved in such corruption have been “officially dismissed and they will face court,” the statement added. 

Bafel Talabani, co-chair of the PUK, and his brother, Qubad Talabani, changed the heads of the counter-terrorism directorate and the PUK’s intelligence agency earlier this month, replacing officials who were close to other co-chair Lahur Talabany with persons loyal to Bafel. 

Qubad Talabani, who is the deputy prime minister of the KRG, told a group of private sector stakeholders in Sulaimani on July 14 that the US Treasury is pressuring his government to put an end to smuggling and related illegal activities.

Ali Hama Saleh, a parliament member from Gorran who is outspoken about corruption at the borders, said on Friday that “No one has been arrested for involvement in the continued and systematic smuggling process at Bashmakh.”
 
"Those arrested are some people with no support or those who have smuggled a few kilos of chicken meat, rather than those who have taken hundreds of millions at crossings and airports and have not been arrested,” he asserted.