MP launches legal action to halt Basra-Aqaba pipeline project

Shafaq News/ Lawmaker Hanan al-Fatlawi started legal action against Mustafa al-Kadhimi's caretaker government seeking an injunction to halt the implementation of Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline.

According to the transcript of the legal proceeding filed by al-Fatlawi, the lawmaker challenged the constitutionality of the cabinet decree upon which Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi authorized Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail to sign a nine-billion-dollar agreement with the Chinese consortium "CITIC" on constructing the Basra-Aqaba pipeline.

Al-Fatlawi argues that al-Kadhimi's government is basically a caretaker government who is tasked "to daily nondeferrable operations."

Yesterday, al-Fatlawi stated that "a caretaker government does not have the powers to conclude such huge contracts..Contracts at this scale shall be enlisted in the budget, which is not the case with this project."