Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari: Parliament withdraws confidence after questioning him on the use of public funds (2016), and the Federal Supreme Court bars his candidacy for President (2022)

Hoshyar Zebari, of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, held ministerial posts from 2003 to 2016, mostly as foreign minister, and became finance minister in 2014. On 25 August 2016 Parliament questioned him at the request of MP Haitham al-Jubouri. According to a Parliament statement reported by Kurdistan24, the questions included the hire of a private aircraft for USD 90,000 of public money, payments to the Kurdistan Region contrary to the 2015 federal budget law, and more than IQD 2 billion from the ministry's account to fly the minister and 450 guards between Erbil and Baghdad. Zebari denied the allegations. He said the aircraft was paid from private sources and that the guards flew because ISIS held the roads. On 21 September 2016 Parliament withdrew confidence from him in a secret ballot, by 158 votes to 77 with 14 abstentions. He blamed former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and said he would reveal large corruption files. On 13 February 2022 the Federal Supreme Court ruled that he could not stand for President of the Republic. The plaintiffs had cited the 2016 vote, which they said followed accusations of financial and administrative corruption.