Al-Baldawi: The regional government continues to smuggle oil and use employees as shields for its parties’ policies.

Representative Mohammed al-Baldawi, spokesman for the Sadiqoon parliamentary, confirmed on Saturday that the Kurdistan Regional Government’s human rights violations are not new, accusing it of continuing policies that have harmed the national economy, most notably oil smuggling.
In a televised statement, Al-Baldawi said, “The regional government has not only engaged in oil smuggling operations, but has also gone beyond that to cause direct harm to the Iraqi economy.” He explained that “the quantities of oil smuggled from the region range between 250,000 and 400,000 barrels per day, and perhaps more than that”.
Al-Baldawi criticized the regional government’s handling of the employee salaries issue, saying, “As Iraqis, we reject the use of the region’s employees as shields for the policies of the ruling parties in Kurdistan,” stressing that “the regional government’s leaders are dealing negatively with this vital issue”.
Al-Baldawi pointed out that “the Sadiqoon demanded that the salaries of the region’s employees be deposited in government banks in Baghdad, but this demand has not been implemented yet,” reiterating his bloc’s position of solidarity with the region’s employees and retirees and others, until their current crisis is resolved.