By Wladimir van Wilgenburg
Delft - Gorran members Safin Mala Qara and Jamal Hama Karim accuse in an exclusive interview with Rudaw, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of blackmail. They say the PUK is trying to blame their mistakes in the Sulemani province on Gorran, after the revelation of corruption scandals in Halabja, Chamchamal and Sulemani.
“This is an important goal: [PUK] they are trying to blame their failures on the provincial council and mayor, which mostly consist of Gorran supporters. They are trying to put the blame on Gorran and want to give Gorran a bad image,” says Gorran Erbil-representative Safin Mala Qara.
According to the Gorran EU representative Jamal Hama Karim the Change list is against all types of corruption, even if it’s from their own party. “We think there is a clear political purpose of this. We are against every kind of corruption.” He added: “Corruption should be combated top down, not from bottom up. Why nothing happens with the KRG vice premier Omar Fattah who stole 18 million dollar?”
Kurdistani Nwe daily newspaper, a mouthpiece of PUK, reported that the Suleimaniya governor, the Suleimaniya provincial council, and the Halabja mayor are Goran supporters, and during the last election campaign they spent government money to campaign for Goran.
Both the Suleimaniya governorate, governor Dana Ahmed Majeed and the Halabja mayor Fuad Saleh are accused of embezzling a lot of money (Photo: Rudaw).
Source: Rudaw
