Can Barham Salih succeed in repatriating embezzled money?

Can Barham Salih succeed in repatriating Iraqi Kurdistan's embezzled money? — Barham Salih, leading PUK leader, Iraqi Kurdistan. Illustrative Photo: iKurd.net/Auis/leapfrogit

Rizgar Khoshnaw | Exclusive to iKurd.net

During an interview yesterday, Barham Salih, with firmness and authoritative voice, said; ” We need to force ALL companies that belongs to KRG politicians that have embezzled Kurdistan’s wealth brought back to its rightful owners; the Kurds” I have two simple questions for him:

1- Is he sincere about doing this? If so, there is a very easy way to accomplish it;

2- Has his PUK party members taken any part of such embezzlement of Kurdish money that he wants to bring back to Kurdistan?

He can surly start by investigating Kuanta Construction LLC, see information below, and see if this company has any “association” with his party or any other Kurdish politicians. This company is located in my area around Washington, DC and has only a hand full of employees.

I have searched/reviewed Kuanta Construction LLC for a number of years and I have never discussed it with anyone, but since Barham Salih wants to “repatriate missing money” then he can surly start here. What I do know about this company is that they are a tiny entity which was not qualified to take on a sizable project, such as the participation of the new Erbil and Sulaimani airports 2004-2005, and yet they were awarded a such contract. Who owns this company and who do they know within the KRG in order to be awarded such a lucrative contract?

By now the whole world knows that no one gets any work/contract in Kurdistan unless they have “connections” with some top officials. Such practice, and mentality, will surely kill Kurdistan and its reputation for “a friendly investment environment” region. What is so disturbing is that the KRG knows this, but it chooses not to tackle such issue and continues business as usual.

Speaking of the new Erbil airport, this contract was initially awarded at $157 Million, but during the opening ceremony, and after a about a year delay, it was reveled that the eventual price tag for the airport stood at $450 Million- 200% over budget!

This means that the contract was awarded to not only unqualified company, but there seem to be some “funny” business going on with this project. There are many more failed and over-budget projects such as this and all it is all because the KRG has so many corrupt and unqualified personnel working for them.

There are many other projects/contracts that are “fishy” in the oil sector that I will discuss in my writings at a later time.

I have been involved in finance and business for more than 25 years and I have never heard or seen an implemented project that ends with 200% over budget. Normally, whenever a company gives its projected value/cost of project, they place a 3-4% plus-minus to the project and not 200%!!

I am very familiar with this contract because I had represented a US based international construction company, with experience in building airports, to participate in this project. But of course we did not it even thought we met with top KRG personnel and presented them with the company’s impressive qualifications.

The KRG knew very well we were qualified and experienced (the company I represented has designed and built five airports around the world) to take on such project, but it did not seem that experience and qualification mattered to them.

If Mr. Salih is serious about investigating anyone that has used their power to accumulate a huge fortune, he can easily do that, but time will tell if he will take such step. Investigating individuals that have placed their stolen money in the US and/or Europe is not difficult at all.

To be honest, the Kurds are terrible at hiding money outside of Kurdistan and they tend to flaunt it as well!! The Billions of dollars that have made its way to Kurdistan in the past 12 years was not only very sudden, but in such huge amount that not many Kurds knew how do deal with such unprecedented wealth.

Rizgar Xoshnaw, a senior Kurdish writer based in Washington, a longtime contributing writer and columnist for iKurd.net.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.