An expert expects Kuwait to ask Iraq for 6 billion dollars in debt in the event of the cancellation of the “Khor Abdullah” agreement

Nabil Al-Marsoumi, an economist, said on Tuesday that if Baghdad rejects the “Khor Abdullah” agreement reached with Kuwait, Kuwait will sue Iraq for roughly $6 billion in compensation for Diwan.

In a Facebook post, Al-Marsoumi stated, “After the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq ruled that the law ratifying the maritime navigation agreement in Khawr Abdullah with Kuwait was unconstitutional, claims appeared for some Kuwaiti deputies for Kuwaiti loans and interest on Iraq that have yet to be paid.”

“It is known that the origin of the Kuwaiti debts owed by Iraq was approximately 6 billion dollars to Kuwait, and this can be considered a debt based on the documents submitted,” he continued. The remaining claims, however, cannot be deemed debts. Because it is made up of various different components, including:

1- Exporting oil for Iraq in the neutral zone between the two nations, as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed to produce the equivalent of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day and market it for Iraq.

2- Paying Iraq’s debts to others or guaranteeing Iraq’s obligations to them.

3- Providing civilian means to Iraq to aid in the war effort, such as mechanisms, transporters, iron for military issues, and barbed wire. And that these were gifts and assistance for the war effort.

4- Making amenities available in Kuwaiti ports, as well as exemptions from transit taxes and customs processing. As a result, the Iraqis do not believe that all of this is loans since there is no documentation, and it is more probable that it is presents or help, especially given the political motivation behind that aid. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, all of this increased Kuwait’s debt including interest to $22 billion.

According to Al-Marsoumi, “although Kuwait confirms that it has official documents demonstrating the transfer of these funds to Iraq, from a legal standpoint, the reality of the transfer that has been achieved is insufficient to prove that Iraq bears any claim to re-pay any amount unless the transfer conditions are specific and binding.”

He emphasized that if Kuwait maintained on its hard attitudes and legal interpretations regarding its unwillingness to apply the principle of “abhorrent” religion, Iraq should not be afraid to defend the fact that these payments do not constitute loans unless they are supported by a written contract.

The expert concluded his publication by stating that the principle of “abhorrent” debts, which states that a debt that is not used for the benefit of the people, but rather in support of corruption and dictatorship oppression, is a debt that lacks legal legitimacy, and that the best solution to Kuwait’s debts is the need for a large national effort to call for the establishment of a sovereign state. An arbitration court investigates the “abhorrent” debts and has the authority to determine which are reprehensible debts and which are valid legal debts, with the first one constituting the majority being forfeited.

The Federal Supreme Court (Iraq’s highest legal authority) declared yesterday, Monday, that the bill ratifying the maritime navigation arrangement in Khawr Abdullah with Kuwait was unconstitutional.

According to the Federal Supreme Court’s media, the court decided today (yesterday) in case No. (105 and its uniform 194 / federal / 2023) to rule on the unconstitutionality of the law ratifying the agreement between the government of the Republic of Iraq and the government of the State of Kuwait regarding the regulation of maritime navigation in Creek Abdullah No. (42) for the year 2013.

He went on to say, “The court issued its decision in violation of the provisions of Article (61 / Fourth) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq, which stipulated that (the process of ratification of international treaties and agreements is regulated by a law enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives.”

Representative Saud Al-Saadi, for his part, declared in a video clip that we will broadcast below that he had won a case against the Khawr Abdullah Agreement before the Federal Court, calling it as “good news for the Iraqis.”