The Yemeni Minister of Information, Muammar Al-Iryani, accused the rival Houthis of disrupting the government’s arrangements to pay the salaries of public sector employees on a regular basis.

Speaking to Yemen’s Saba news agency, Al-Iryani said the Houthis have stolen 40 billion rials ($0.16 billion) from an account designated to pay public employees’ salaries in the Central Bank’s branch in Hudaydah collected from the sale of oil derivatives through the city’s port.

“The Houthi militia has been stealing billions under the pretext of paying half a salary every six months for public sector employees working in areas under their control, while it is possible to pay a full salary on a regular basis to all state employees according to the 2014 statements if they returned the looted funds from the salaries’ account and commit to channelling the Hodeidah port revenues.”

Al-Iryani stressed on the government’s keenness to pay the salaries of all state employees on a regular basis and called to stop the Houthis looting as well as the political exploitation of this humanitarian file.