The Kirkuk branch of the Iraqi Bar Association registered a complaint against a member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, Ahmed Fateh (Ahmed Kirkuki), and demanded compensation from him.
The complaint was registered today, Monday, May 6, by the head of the union’s branch in Kirkuk, Taha Othman Al-Mufarji, after Ahmed Kirkuki appeared in a video clip that the union believes constitutes a “crime and defamation” against lawyers.
During a visit to the National Card Department in the Shawan sub-district of Kirkuk Province, Ahmed Kirkuki, a member of the council from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK bloc, pulled out documents from a lawyer and said, “There are things that are happening that neither God nor the people will accept. Fear God, people do not deserve what you are doing.”
He also appeared in the video clip. He asks the head of the department to open a window for lawyers to manage clients’ transactions.
Ahmed Kirkuki himself posted the video clip on his Facebook page.
The head of the Kirkuk branch of the Syndicate of Solicitors stated in his complaint addressed to the Kirkuk Investigation Court, “Ahmed Kirkuki withdrew documents from one of the female lawyers and made statements insulting solicitors and asked the head of the department to refrain from clearly implementing the provisions of the law.”
“This behavior is a crime punishable by law. We therefore request that legal measures be taken against him and we demand compensation,” the complaint stated.
The complaint was directed to the Kirkuk Investigation Court, and based on it, the judge began taking action.
Iraq was ranked at 154 among 180 states by Transparency International’s the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), an index which ranks countries by perceived levels of public sector corruption, determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of power for private gain." The index is published annually by Transparency International since 1995.
Methods of bribe taking included more fees collected than the amount recorded in the official receipt that is delivered to the auditor in some departments, in addition to the registering higher fees for the experts whom receive less than what is stipulated in the instructions of the executive.
Ahmed Kirkuki says in the video clip, “I am from Shawan and I do not accept that my family is treated in this way in a circle.”
The National Card Department in Shwan is one of the government departments where citizens complain about “reluctance in processing transactions,” and its employees are accused of receiving “bribes” in exchange for processing their transactions.
Later, Kirkuki said, “I apologize to anyone who misunderstood the video clip incorrectly or felt offended by what I said.”
The oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iraq's second-largest oil reserve, is ethnically a mixed province of 1.7 million Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen. It has long been the center of disputes between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
