Session (2) Second Term / First Year

The Council of Representatives held on (9/7/2026) its second session of the second legislative term of the first legislative year of the sixth electoral cycle, chaired by Speaker Haibat Al-Halbousi, with (214) in attendance. The session included:

- The taking of the constitutional oath by Messrs. Bashar Amij Ismail, Mohammed Fawwaz Al-Jarba, Jamal Ali Uwaid, Salah Hadi Al-Zuhairi, Zahraa Jamil Al-Mayali and Jasim Mohammed Al-Sharifi.

- The Speaker noted receiving a letter from the Chairman of the National Investment Commission containing a request for the possibility of postponing his interrogation, explaining that the Council's Presidency did not approve the postponement request, especially since the Council had completed all the legal procedures for the interrogation.

- The interrogating MP Adil Al-Rikabi began posing his questions, which included the Chairman of the National Investment Commission issuing a building permit to a contracting and urban development company to invest 5,000 dunams in the Al-Rashid Camp area to establish the Baghdad Hills project worth 3 trillion and 450 billion dinars, without a financing plan submitted to date and without comparable works by the company, explaining that issuing the permit violates the Council of Ministers' decisions, especially as the implementation period was extended to 15 years.

- MP Al-Rikabi inquired about the legal basis for the Chairman of the National Investment Commission granting ownership of a 22-dunam plot belonging to the Ministry of Interior's Police Martyrs Fund, by contracting and granting the land to the Ard Ataa Al-Maali contracting company without a permit, in addition to inquiring about the Investment Commission's violation in approving the exploitation of one of the former regime's presidential palaces located within the area of an investment opportunity for the DAMAC residential complex of 1,400 dunams granted to the international company DICO, using it as a commercial center for the company's benefit.

- MP Al-Rikabi questioned the rationale of the Commission Chairman's addressing the Council of Ministers proposing to exempt the 10 percent deduction for the DAMAC company in the Basra 1 and 2 project, as well as exempting it from the instructions on selling residential units, causing waste of public funds; in addition to the Chairman addressing the Council of Ministers requesting a decision to extend keeping a 2 percent share for the state instead of 90%, by granting permits without fulfilling their requirements, causing damage to public funds in the amount of 88%.

- MP Adil Al-Rikabi asked about the assignment of the employee Jalal Nasir to manage some sensitive files and committees in the Commission without observing the standards of integrity and competence, being an unqualified person, in the committees (the Kurdistan Region committee, the committee for considering investors' grievances, the committee for objections to permit granting, and chairing the permit amendment committee); in addition to violating the systems and instructions through the Chairman transferring 100 employees and seconding 68 employees to the Commission without verifying their specializations, some of which must suit the Commission's work and duties.

- The questions included the Chairman granting ownership of the residential portions of the Rixos Hotel project for 120 thousand dinars — equivalent to 80 dollars — for the ground floor, and 14 thousand dinars for the remaining residential floors — equivalent to 9 dollars — even though the project's sales center sells the square meter of a residential unit for 6,000 US dollars, equivalent to 9 million Iraqi dinars, causing clear waste of public funds and harm to the Iraqi citizen.

- The Chairman, during the first year of assuming the post, disbursed an amount of three hundred billion and nine hundred sixty million dinars, with its dollar equivalent, to the Korean company Hanwha, implementer of the Bismayah residential city project, contrary to the audit results of the Investment Commission's legal department and contrary to the preliminary report of the international auditing firm (Deloitte), which in turn upheld the legal department's audit of the contract terms concerning the accumulated amount owed to the Korean company that was paid by the Commission.

- MP Al-Rikabi inquired about the rationale of the Chairman's addressing the Council of Ministers requesting the granting of approximately 6,750 exemptions for the Bismayah complex apartments without following the lottery system that you had prescribed to achieve justice among applicants — noting that the apartments have not been delivered to date — and his opening the marketing of the Bismayah residential project on the electronic marketing platform for seventy thousand residential units contrary to the investment contract, which stipulated that the company complete the project first; the Chairman then granted exemptions from applying through the electronic platform, transferring them to the actually completed units of (8,200 apartments).

- The interrogating MP questioned the rationale of the Investment Commission Chairman's continued disbursement of occupational hazard allowances of 375 thousand dinars monthly to the Commission's employees (the operational accounts department, the oversight and internal audit department, and the investment plan accounts department) without legal basis and contrary to the letter of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers No. (29016), which constitutes waste of public funds.

- Speaker Haibat Al-Halbousi affirmed the existence of grave violations and major waste of public funds, noting that the absence of the Chairman of the National Investment Commission from the interrogation session constitutes an indication of his inability to justify the stated violations.

- Voting by absolute majority to relieve Mr. Haider Mohammed Makiya, Chairman of the National Investment Commission, of his post and refer his files to the Integrity Commission.

Part of the session was chaired by First Deputy Speaker Adnan Faihan

- The MPs demanded addressing the issue of the Sahwa salaries and called for hosting the head of the Basra Governorate Investment Commission and applying Article Nine of the Investment Law, in addition to demanding schedules for hosting the heads of the governorates' investment commissions

- Mr. Adnan Faihan stressed the importance of preparing a study to amend the Investment Law and include a clause restricting the granted exemptions to prevent the waste of public funds.

 Part of the session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Farhad Al-Atrushi. 

- The interventions focused on the importance of addressing the issue of employees' promotions and allowances to do them justice and include their entitlements within the 2027 general budget law; in addition to demanding equality between the farmers of Nineveh Governorate and the farmers of other governorates by receiving 300 kilograms per dunam, along with demanding farmers' dues for the 2025 season; parliamentary demands to consider the requirements of all governorates according to their needs; and demanding that the Council of Representatives vote on the heads of the independent commissions rather than keeping their administration without a vote.