Kirkuk investment chief says mafia groups are selling state-owned land

KIRKUK, Iraq — The head of the Kirkuk Investment Commission, Dayer Zeyyan, said networks and mafias are involved in the sale of state-owned land and in encroachments on those properties. He said the commission had documented, using 2017 aerial photographs, that an investment plot showed no interference before an investment permit was issued, but construction and encroachments began once news of the planned investment project spread. Zeyyan said the commission lacks the security or executive authority to hold accountable those involved in land sales or encroachments, and called on relevant bodies to open legal proceedings against real estate offices and corruption mafias. He stressed that investment-designated land does not belong to the Kirkuk Investment Commission but to various state institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, the provincial administration, the Kirkuk Municipality and other ministries. The commission does not hold title deeds in its own name, he said, and under the law the responsibility for protecting these lands falls on the owning institutions. Zeyyan added that a previously issued investment permit was revoked after numerous violations were identified, including the sale of housing units to multiple parties and encroachments on land designated for service areas. He said the Judges' Complex project holds a permit in compliance with regulations, has no authority over surrounding land and its plans remain subject to approval by the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Municipalities.