Police close Chavi Land over unpaid taxes ahead of public auction of property linked to opposition leader

SULAYMANIYAH — Police on Monday closed Chavi Land, one of Sulaymaniyah’s best-known amusement parks, after its operating company failed to pay taxes, a source from the General Directorate of Taxation told 964media.

The source said the company had received “several warnings, and later a letter was sent to the Sulaymaniyah governor’s office to enforce the decision.” A security officer stationed at the park said a court-appointed enforcement committee “entered the site to oversee the closure and begin preparations for the public auction scheduled for Oct. 3, 2025.” Police locked the gates and remained deployed outside.

In late August, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Finance and Economy announced that 60 properties belonging to Nalia and Chavi companies would be sold to recover nearly 92 billion dinars ($65.7 million) in debt. The ministry said some assets were initially excluded because they had been allocated for green or service areas, but after review were re-listed for auction. The Court of Enforcement in Sulaymaniyah confirmed the ministry’s authority to seize and sell the assets, which include land, hotels, cafeterias, tourist cabins, and entertainment venues linked to Chavi Land.

The closure comes as Shaswar Abdulwahid—founder of NRT television, leader of the New Generation Movement, and owner of both Nalia and Chavi companies—remains in detention. On Sept. 2, a Sulaymaniyah court sentenced him to five months in prison in a defamation case brought by former lawmaker Shadia Nawzad, reducing an earlier six-month ruling issued in absentia. Abdulwahid was arrested Aug. 12 at his home in Sulaymaniyah’s German Village neighborhood. The New Generation bloc said the verdict was expected but argued his arrest had only made him “more beloved among the people.”