Report by: Draw

About 30 members of Kurdistan’s Parliament are studying in higher education with doing their parliamentary work at the same time, and this is against the legal regulations and contrary to the law. One of the parliament member’s names is on the list of dozens of others who have faked English Language Proficiency Certificates for the purpose of studying in higher education. According to the document “Draw” has obtained, a large number of higher education students have done forgeries.

Written on the bulletin!
In 2019, some names of higher education students were found on the bulletin board which was announced by the College of Arts at the University of Salahuddin, the students had faked English Language proficiency certificates.
The list was removed on the bulletin of the College of Arts a few days later. According to the content of the written document, the names were placed on the blacklist by Salahaddin University for forgeries and their right to study was taken away from all universities in Kurdistan Region.
In 2016, the Kurdistan Regional Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research decided that those who want to study Master or PhD must have an international English language certificate. From the time the decision was made, many types of deceptions and forgeries appeared to achieve the certificate. A group of university teachers and higher education students seeking to buy and fake the international English language certificate, especially (IELTS and TOEFL).
According to the investigations, when Yousef Goran was the former minister of Higher Education in Kurdistan Regional Government's cabinet, hundreds of people have faked English language certificate in higher education studies, but the ministry and universities have largely hidden the list of the fraudulent people.
The university teachers don’t have immunity, so they are legally treated as an employee. Crime of forgery has only regulated in the Articles 289 and 298 in the Iraqi Constitution, which states that frauds are dismissed from the job and no longer have the right to be re-employed. If the fraud is found guilty after a trial, the Judge will impose a sentence up to five years in prison.

Members of the Parliament on the list of the frauds!
Another written document from the Ministry of Higher Education is available in the previous cabinet, which emphasizes that for the 2016-2017 study year at Salahaddin University in Erbil, 24 higher education students have got fake English language certificate, who were studying at master and Phd’s level .Bahman Kaka Abdullah, the current member of Parliament from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, is on the list. 

Parliamentarian and Higher Education
The issue is not just forgery. According to the decision of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Consultation Council, the parliamentarians of Kurdistan and Iraq, who have special ranks and positions in the ministries and offices of the regional government, they do not have the right to promote higher education, while they are in their positons. Both jobs cannot be completed at the same time.
According to the investigations by “Draw”, despite the instructions from the Ministry of Higher Education and the Consultation Council, a large number of Kurdistan parliamentarians in the previous and current terms of the Kurdistan Parliament and government officials are studying inside and outside of Kurdistan. And this is against the instructions. But what is surprising is that the Ministry and the universities are taking no actions while these special ranks are studying.
 “Draw” has learned that in the current Kurdistan Parliament term, more than 25 members of Parliament are studying in higher education, which means they have two different jobs and it is against the law.
Those who have a special ranks in higher education say that they were students before becoming parliamentarians or ministers and general directors, but this excuse is not legal, because according to the decision of the Consultation Council (No. 13 of 2014), they should have suspended their study at the time they became the member of the Parliament or started working in any other government positions. The decision shows that those who study during their parliamentary work, even their candidacies were illegal.

Negative Effects (Damage)
Those who have special ranks and are busy with their higher education studies, are harming public rights in some ways:
• Receiving their allowance while they are studying Masters and PhDs for three years.
• These people, who have special ranks, must attend their studies in Higher Education from morning to evening, which will leave their places in parliament, the ministry, government offices and other affairs closed and it will be harmful for the citizens in the region.
• Doing two jobs together is disobeying the decision of the Consultation Council and the Ministry of Higher Education, and the law will be broken by the people who the special ranks. 
• The studies of the people who have special ranks increase the possibility of forgery in Higher Education, especially (scientific fraud), because no one can work five days a week and write a Master or PhD’s thesis. In this case, they may seek to find others to write their Master and PhD’s Thesis instead.