MOSUL TIME RADIO
The Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Economic Committee, Yasser Al-Hussaini, described the arguments of the Cypriot company responsible for constructing the breakwater in the port of Al-Faw in Basra, which filed a lawsuit against the Iraqi Ports Company to compensate it financially, as unrealistic arguments, stressing that the text of the contract signed with the company is in violation of the law .
Al-Hussaini said, “A few days ago, the Cypriot company resorted to the International Court of Arbitration, which decided to fine Iraq $120 million in compensation due to the failure and negligence of the Iraqi General Ports Company .”
He added, “The Cypriot company built the breakwater and about 2 kilometers of this breakwater were destroyed. After that, the Cypriot company claimed that it did not have the manpower, which prevented it from completing its work, under the pretext that the security situation was unstable and there was terrorism and other imaginary and unrealistic pretexts .”
Al-Hussaini explained that “the text of the contract signing is in violation of the law, in addition to the signing of other agreements signed by the Iraqi Ports Company .”
He pointed out that “there is another private company that fined Iraq, in collusion with the legal director of the Iraqi Ports Company, an amount of 47 million dollars, under the pretext of the ports company’s negligence and other unrealistic pretexts .”
On September 9, an American court ruled that the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Ports Company must pay $120 million to the Cypriot company Archirodon for constructing a breakwater in the port of Al-Faw in Basra .
This came after the Cypriot company Archirodon was awarded a $265 million contract to build a breakwater at the Grand Faw Port by the General Company for Ports of Iraq in 2012 .
The company was unable to recruit a sufficient number of workers as a result of the terrorist organization ISIS launching a major attack on Iraq .
“The foreign countries from which Archirodon recruited its workforce discouraged and even prevented their citizens from traveling to Iraq ,” said U.S. Judge James Boasberg.
The judge who ruled in favor of Archirodon explained that “the construction of the breakwater faced unexpected obstacles, including the company not hiring enough workers due to security tensions there, as some foreign countries from which Archirodon recruited prevented their workers from traveling to Iraq, and the Iraqi government feared that the people of Basra would oppose the use of the company’s trucks and heavy vehicles on the Basra-Faw road, which could lead to protests, and that the soil conditions mentioned by the General Company for Iraqi Ports in the tender were incorrect, which led to the construction not being completed on time .”
The Parliamentary Order 160 Committee, which is responsible for investigating violations at Iraqi ports, announced that it needs more time after its investigations reached suspicions of corruption that it described as “major” and monitored attempts to conceal some documents in order to obstruct its work .
The committee monitored legal and administrative violations in Iraqi seaports.
