ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s interior ministry on Monday denied a lawmaker’s claims that Iraq has awarded the project of merging the national ID with the residency card to a Syrian company affiliated with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Shiite Iraqi lawmaker Mustafa Jabbar Sanad on Sunday accused the Iraqi government of handing over the ID unification project to “a Syrian company owned by one of Jolani’s [Sharaa’s] friends,” referring to the Syrian leader by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. He warned that the move would give the company access to the database “and the cost would be paid by the citizen.”

Hours following Sanad’s remarks, the ministry released a statement denying the claims, stating they are “completely false” and have “no basis in reality.”

“The Civil Information System is a purely national administration, managed entirely by the staff of the Directorate of Civil Status, Passports, and Residency,” the statement added.

The ministry said that the company involved in implementing the project is the Berlin-based Veridos GmbH, which specializes in identity solutions, which “has obtained all necessary security approvals from the relevant higher authorities.”

Anticipating the ministry’s denial, the lawmaker noted prior to the statement’s publication that the government “will release statements denying my account” on the matter, adding that “they will produce documents claiming the company is German, Iraqi, Mozambican, and so on. I will endure the harm and the denials, no problem.”

“The important thing is that the contract is canceled tomorrow,” Sanad stated, noting that the government, in its caretaker status, has “no right to award any contract like this.”

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani chaired a special meeting to discuss the project of integrating residence-related data into the unified national ID card, according to a statement by the premier’s office.

The meeting also highlighted plans to develop an electronic system that is set to govern “all types of services, with the system supported by electronic applications to establish a single, unified data reference to be adopted by all state institutions,” the statement added.