Kurdish official doubts ‘legality’ of (Iraqi) oil deals

[sabra]

Source: Azzaman

The oil deals the Kurdish regional government and the central government in Baghdad are signing are illegal, according to a top Kurdish politician and legislator.

Mahmoud Othman, the head of the powerful Kurdish bloc in Iraqi parliament, described the signing of these deals as “a premature and out-of-lace move” in the absence of a national law organizing the exploitation of the country’s oil riches.

The Kurds have signed about two dozen deals and the central government has agreed to let foreign oil giants to boost output from producing fields and is also mulling signing oil development contracts.

“The rush towards signing the contracts is anachronistic. So long as the draft oil and gas law remains unsigned, these deals will lack the constitutional basis to kick them off the ground,” Othman said.

Othman is the first senior Kurdish officials to criticize the oil development deals the Kurdish regional government has signed.

Read more: http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2008-07-08/kurd.htm

[LiberalFighter]

1. Someone in the regional govt trying to line their pockets at expense of their citizens?

[LiberalFighter]

2. Whoever translated the report probably screwed up the last sentence.

The analysts also charge that almost all the Kurdish deals have been signed without the proper betting procedures.

I would bet that betting should be vetting.