Iraq's prime minister has fired nine government officials following oil smuggling by an Iran-backed group.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered the dismissal of nine government officials on Saturday, November 14, following an investigation into the accusation of oil smuggling at one of the bases of the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.
At the end of last week, al-Zaidi ordered to begin an investigation into oil smuggling in the Jarfal al-Sakar area of Babol district, south of Baghdad. This area is one of the main bases of Hezbollah Kataib; A group that the US government included in the list of assassination organizations.
Sabah al-Numan, the Iraqi Prime Minister's military spokesman, said on Saturday, al-Zaidi, "According to the results of the investigation, they ordered to bring all the people accused of involvement in the oil smuggling operation into the judicial system."
He did not reveal the names of the accused.
Mustafa al-Khalfusi, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, called for the establishment of parliamentary committees to investigate this issue at the end of last week. This committee was assigned to examine the issue and present the results to the Speaker of the Parliament.
According to al-Noman, the Iraqi prime minister also ordered the dismissal of 9 officials, including the security and intelligence officers of the Babol district, the commander of the Ministry of Interior and the manager of the oil pipeline company affiliated to the Ministry of Oil.
The prime minister's military spokesman did not explain further the role of these parties in the alleged smuggling operation.
Read the full version of this report on Radio Perda's website.