The Iraqi federal court ruled on Sunday to suspend procedures for the nomination of Hoshyar Zebari for the position of Iraqi president, following corruption allegations against him.

The Federal Supreme Court held a session on Sunday to rule on the nomination of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) candidate Zebari for the presidency position.

The second Karkh investigating court said in a communique it sent to the federal court that it had conducted an investigation into a case filed against Zebari accused of wasting billions of dinars when he was the foreign minister between 2005 and 2014.

The lawsuit was filed by lawmakers Dilan Ghafour Salih and Ali Turki Jasoumi against Zebari, the court said in the communique dated February 1.

The court further said Zebari had disbursed “sums of money as rents to a number of guards of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in violation of the law, amounting to 3,771,020,844 dinars, despite the objection of the administrative authorities to the spending”.

The federal court ruled to “suspend the procedures for electing Hoshyar Mahmoud Mohammed Zebari for the post of President of the Republic temporarily until the case is resolved”.

The court further said the acceptance of Zebari’s nominee by the Council of Representatives “violates the constitutional terms because he has no provisos stated in Article 68 of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution”.

Dozens of Iraqis protested against Zebari’s nomination due to corruption allegations against him.

In 2016, Iraqi parliament sacked Zebari from his post as finance minister over alleged corruptions and misuse of public funds. Zebari denied the accusations.

(ESTA/PUKNOW)