Iraqi Parliament denies receipt of Electricity Minister’s discharge

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Parliament had not received a demand regarding the discharge of Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, till last Thursday, the Director-General of the Parliament’s Media office said on Saturday.   “The Iraqi Parliament had not received, till the end of the working hours last Thursday, a demand by Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, regarding his sacking of Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal,” Mohammed Abu-Bakir told IraqiNews.com news agency.   A number of media sources had quoted Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, as having said that he had sent a demand to sack Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, for approval by the Parliament.   Prime Minister Maliki had announced last week the sacking his Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, in the background of financial and administrative corruption, following his signing important trade contracts in the name of his Ministry, reaching one billion (b) and 700,000 US dollars, according to source close to the government.   Shallal is member of al-Hal (Solution) bloc, belonging to al-Iraqiya Coalition, led by Iraq ’s former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.   Noteworthy is that Iraq suffers from a strong electric power shortage, amid high-temperature, reaching 50 degrees Celsius, exceeding 18 hours of power cuts per day in the majority of Iraqi provinces. SKH (IT)