Kurdistan Region Finance Minister Resigns; “Due to Interventions and Pressures from Sulaymaniyah Administration”

According to KurdPress, Awat Sheikh Janab, the Minister of Finance of the Kurdistan Region, has resigned from his position following the escalation of disputes between the Ministry of Finance of the region and the Sulaymaniyah administration.

Sources close to the Ministry of Finance of the region have told “Draw” that partisan pressures and interventions against employees and officials of the Ministry of Finance in the Sulaymaniyah area were among the main factors in the Minister of Finance’s decision to submit his resignation.According to the report, the dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Finance and the Sulaymaniyah administration has intensified in recent days, and one of its main axes is the arrest of the Sulaymaniyah government property manager.

The official has been detained by the Pakdasti investigative court for more than a week. According to a source close to the Ministry of Finance, the court has repeatedly requested the replacement of this manager, but no charges have been proven against him so far.

The source also claimed that the arrest of the Sulaymaniyah government property manager was carried out without coordination and consultation with the Ministry of Finance; an issue that, according to the source, has increased the differences between the two parties, given the administrative position of this person and the sensitivity of his responsibility.

Awat Sheikh Janab, from the Change Movement in the Kurdistan Regional Government Cabinet, has been serving as the Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Finance since July 10, 2019.As of the time of publication, the official position of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Finance or the Sulaymaniyah Administration regarding the resignation of Awat Sheikh Janab and the reasons given for it have not been released.