Private Eye, the United Kingdom’s leading news and current affairs magazine, has described the Barzani family as a “mafia outfit dedicated to lining their own pockets.” Widespread corruption has allowed the family to amass significant wealth in the US, all while failing to pay Kurdistan’s civil servants, teachers and doctors, according to the magazine.
The story also warned that efforts to diversify Kurdistan’s economy have been hindered by its treatment of international investors. In 2021, British oil and gas company Genel Energy brought arbitration proceedings against the Kurdistan Regional Government, alleging that it had illegally terminated two gas production sharing contracts. Separately, Sirwan Barzani’s refusal to pay a $1.65 billion arbitral award after he defrauded a joint venture between Kuwait’s Agility Public Warehousing Company and France’s telecoms company Orange was also cited by the magazine.
