First: First reading of the draft law approving the final account for the fiscal year 2012. (Finance Committee), (7 articles).
Not Executor
Second: Ratification and discussion (second reading) of the draft law on the twenty-first amendment to staffing No. (25) of 1960. (Finance Committee), (3 articles).
Not Executor
Third: Ratification of the parliamentary committee charged with developing recommendations to control drugs.
Not Executor
Fourth: Questioning the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network
Executor
Session Details
On (9/3/2023), the House of Representatives held its thirteenth session of the first legislative term of the second legislative year of the fifth electoral cycle under the chairmanship of Muhammad Al-Halbousi in the presence of (191) and the session included:
-Voting on the assignment of Representative Hussein Ali Mardan within the committee of experts on the selection of the Board of Commissioners of the High Commission for Human Rights as a replacement for representative Adnan Al-Jabri.
-President Halbousi’s affirmation that interrogation is a right for all members of the House within the democratic practice guaranteed by the Constitution, welcoming the presence of Mr. Jaafar Al-Wunan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network, to the session at the request of representative Duha Al-Qusayr for interrogation.
-The questions of representative Al-Qusayr included, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees caused a waste of public money following the increase in the network’s budget and the inflation of the volume of expenses, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees violated the Media Network Law and issued orders outside his supervisory duties by the tenth Article of the law and interfered with the powers of the President of the Network, especially by changing the organizational structure of the network and sending invitations to commercial companies and issuing orders to form a committee with executive tasks outside the field of his responsibility, in addition to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees exploiting his position by appointing (70) employees without need. In violation of the law and the instructions in force related to determining the number of wheels allocated to the occupants of special grades and the exploitation of his position by allocating a larger number of members of the Board, In addition to causing waste of money and depriving the network of collecting an amount of (576) million dinars as revenue for the network for broadcasting episodes of a television series (lottery draw) for social welfare due to the failure to agree to complete the contracting procedures with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, as well as causing the achievement of personal goals for the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees to repair a non-network wheel in the maintenance workshop belonging to the network, and causing the network to be charged with the legal and financial consequences and losing the revenues resulting from sponsoring the season of the program (Wilayat Batikh) by stopping The program in all institutions of the Iraqi Media Network after approving its broadcast in advance, and the violation of the Iraqi Media Network Law by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees by terminating the service of the President of the Network before the end of his term, despite the lack of objective and legal reasons that justify the termination of his service, and his violation of owning a number of members of the Council of private companies directly related to media and dramatic work, In addition to the reluctance of the Board of Trustees to exercise its duties by drawing up the general policy of the network and approving the rules of procedure for its work within three months from the date of the election of the president and his deputy, which reflected negatively on the performance of the network.
-Mr. Jaafar Al-Wunan explained that the tasks of the Board of Trustees of the Network and its President are limited to monitoring the President of the Network, drawing up public policies, monitoring the work of the Network and maintaining its independence, noting that the document presented on expenses is not official, but rather schedules without a signature, indicating that the Iraqi Media Network has salary expenses for more than 4000 employees and that the powers of disbursement are limited to the head of the network in addition to determining the size of expenses and estimating their inflation, indicating that the powers of the work of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees are limited to requesting and proposing private expenses He does not have the right to sign contracts or disburse any amounts, indicating that there is no report from the National Audit Office against the performance of the work of the Board of Trustees.
-The interrogator continued his answers, that the procedures of the Board of Trustees came to approve the organizational structure of the network and to rationalize the functional departments in order to compress expenses in accordance with the administrative and legal contexts and with the approval of the head of the network, pointing out that his signing contracts and sending invitations to companies in order to purchase devices was during the period of his assignment to the tasks of the head of the network while traveling outside Iraq and by an official letter by him, explaining that issuing orders to form a committee for executive tasks is within the powers of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees to meet the needs of the network, while revealing that The figures for the number of cars are inaccurate, especially since each member of the Board of Trustees has only two cars, He indicated that taking action on the (lottery draw) program came to prevent depriving the network of an amount of 864 million dinars after the contract of the head of the network with a private company (Arkan Al-Dar) by 3 million dinars per episode and a reduction in favor of the company by 75% contrary to his powers and was not the contract with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, while denying the validity of the information received regarding the repair of the wheel, explaining that the matter is an accusation by the head of the network, pointing out that stopping the broadcast of (Wilayat Batikh) program after showing 3 episodes was due to the inconsistency of the content of the work with the policy and discourse of the network and its inappropriateness to the taste of the Iraqi family, noting that the situation of private companies that the representative talked about are suspended from work since 2014 and with the support of the official authorities, stressing that the Board of Trustees worked to stabilize the media discourse of the network and draw its internal system since he took over his duties.
-Representative Duha Al-Qusayr confirmed at the end of the interrogation that she is not convinced of the answers provided by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and its members, noting that she proceeded to complete the interrogation procedures.
-The Speaker of the House of Representatives expressed his thanks to the questioned Representative and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network and its members for attending the interrogation session, stressing the right of the House to take the necessary measures related to the conviction of the members of the House of Representatives or not and according to the law of the House of Representatives.
