Questions for Adam's Chat 10-17-2012

[Francie26]

Adam, you once said that Iraq could not defend itself until it is out of Ch. 7 because it can't use nuclear weapons until then. I have been haunted by that idea ever since I read it, and my question, admittedly a bit late, is this--after all the American lives given to free Iraq, and given the wild fluctuations in the governments surrounding that country, do you foresee any possibility that we might go back into Iraq to protect their new democracy while they are still under Ch. 7, especially given Maliki's jerk-arounds and friendliness with Iran? Also do the events at our U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi threaten the fledgling democracy in Baghdad in any way? And last, do any of these events or circumstances impact the timing of a possible RV in Iraq?

[bamagirl]

What do you think about Felix Baumgartner's jump yesterday? Sometimes, epic sports and historic events overcome me more so than the daily grind of DV news.

I thought it was flippin AWESOME!!

[eburt]

Hello Adam - Again thanks for all that you do. I have been silence for a while now but can't help notice ALL the articles that are coming out lately regarding Shabbi and the Central Bank along with other articles that deals with Maliki. Is there some truth to those articles? If so, will these events causes more delays in the Dinar? It seems like every week there are different situations and/or issues with Iraq that is holding up the RV.

[usndiver]

Adam, you once said that Iraq could not defend itself until it is out of Ch. 7 because it can't use nuclear weapons until then. I have been haunted by that idea ever since I read it, and my question, admittedly a bit late, is this--after all the American lives given to free Iraq, and given the wild fluctuations in the governments surrounding that country, do you foresee any possibility that we might go back into Iraq to protect their new democracy while they are still under Ch. 7, especially given Maliki's jerk-arounds and friendliness with Iran? Also do the events at our U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi threaten the fledgling democracy in Baghdad in any way? And last, do any of these events or circumstances impact the timing of a possible RV in Iraq?

I think you may be confused on Iraq's ability to defend itself. It's not that they can't use a nuclear weapon, they never had the capability, it's that they currently do not have the armament, i.e. heavy weaponry and delivery platforms for ordnance to protect themselves.

[bamagirl]

Adam... what in the world is going on with Shab's removal and do you think it's good or bad for us?!?!

[waitingondinar]

Hello Adam, Can you please comment on issues which have made progress from our chat two weeks ago? Can you comment on the following article from this link : http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2012/Oct-16/191629-iraq-cabinet-names-interim-central-bank-governor-spokesperson.ashx#axzz29LtCR6Jj

Do you think we are on schedule to see the new Iraqi currency released on or before Jan 1 2013?

It seems new meetings are planned and cancelled on a regular basis regarding what needs to be signed into law to make this revalue come to fruition.

thanks

[ALBUNDY]

Hi Mr. Adam montana. I got these articles in the forum. What do you think of these articles Mr. Adam Montana? What does this all mean Mr. Adam Montana? Thank you very much for taking your precious time for us here Mr. Adam Montana.

Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rate Manipulated?

Posted on 16 October 2012.

By John Lee.

Investigators in Iraq have opened an inquiry into alleged manipulation of the exchange rate between the Iraqi dinar (IQD) and the US dollar, and arrest warrants have reportedly been issued for several officials including the head of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI).

Hassan Karim Aati, spokesman for the Commission on Integrity, said on Tuesday that the Commission is looking into the matter, and studying documents from a parliamentary committee investigating the corruption allegations.

The investigation focusses around 16 officials in the CBI.

While it’s understood that no charges have been brought, Baha al-Araji, the chairman of parliament’s integrity committee, said 30 arrest warrants had been issued, including for CBI governor Sinan al-Shabibi (pictured) and his deputy Mudher Saleh [Mudher Kasim, Mudher Saleh Kasim

Contacted by AFP while in Tokyo for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Shabibi said he was unaware of any warrants.

Concerns have been raised that currency auctions organised by the central bank were being used by neighbouring Iran and Syria to shore up foreign currency reserves, allegations the central bank has denied.

The CBI tightened its rules on the purchase of US dollars earlier this year.

There hava also been suspicions that the commission’s decision was politically motivated, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been pushing to place the Central Bank under the control of the cabinet.

(Sources: AFP, Associated Press, Azzaman, NINA)

Link : http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2012/10/16/iraqi-dinar-exchange-rate-manipulated/2/

Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Iraqi dinar exchange rate after the dismissal of Shabibi

Posted on Tuesday, October 16 1 / Okrudolf 2012 15:10 | Written by: ha | | | Views: 34

BAGHDAD / obelisk: Iraq's Council of Ministers approved, on Tuesday, the recommendations of the Commission study the fluctuation of the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar, which provides coordination, consultation and exchange of information in conjunction with the dismissal of the governor of the central bank.

He said Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh and got "obelisk", a copy of which, "The Council of Ministers held its 45-normal Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the presence of all ministers, approved the recommendations of the study fluctuation Iraqi dinar exchange rate of coordination, consultation and exchange of information between the Central Bank of Iraq and the Council Ministers on fiscal and monetary policies and in accordance with the Constitution. "

Dabbagh said, "The Council decided to give banks a greater role for banks to organize the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar, through a mechanism to prevent the use of funds for purposes other than the declared, along with building the full administration of the Office of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism."

The Iraqi government spokesman said the Cabinet stressed "taking proposals bank into consideration on the formation of the money laundering and the formation of a committee headed by the BSA and the membership of the ministries of interior, finance, trade and Iraqi Central Bank and the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers shall audit and review processes sell the currency for the purpose of locating bugs" .

According to Skinner committed the Council of Ministers "Central Bank to provide a quarterly report on its supervision on the banking companies authorized external switch, with an emphasis on the oversight role of the Supreme Audit scrutiny currency sale transactions to customers and goods entering the result."

The Cabinet decided today, Tuesday, dismissing Iraqi Central Bank Governor Sinan al-Shabibi and the prime BSA Abdul Basit Turki proxy instead of him, said media adviser to Prime Minister Ali al-Moussawi that the decision is valid until further notice.

The regulatory source revealed to the obelisk for the issuance of an arrest warrant against al-Shabibi, Haitham al-Jubouri said a member of the Knesset Finance Committee that investigated suspicions of corruption in the operations of the Central Bank of Iraq and the auction, the issuance of the note right Shabibi and two of his advisers and employees rank of director general.

THE LINK : http://www.almasalah...8%A8%D9%8A.html

Iraqi Cabinet removes central bank head amid allegations of financial wrongdoing

Published October 16, 2012

Associated Press

BAGHDAD – Iraq abruptly removed the longtime governor of the country's central bank Tuesday after he and other bank officials were targeted in an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing.

The governor, Sinan al-Shabibi, is seen as a politically independent economist who has led the bank since shortly after the U.S.-led invasion. He has not been charged with any crime, and his lawyer insists he is innocent.

The allegations, drawn up by a special parliamentary committee established to investigate the bank, could give new ammunition to critics of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the Iraqi leader is trying to consolidate control over the country's institutions.

Iraq's Cabinet voted Tuesday to temporarily replace al-Shabibi with Abdul-Basit Turki, the head of the Board of Supreme Audit, until the investigation is complete, according to Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Iraq's Integrity Commission, the country's anti-corruption watchdog, is investigating the allegations.

"The committee in charge of this ... found shortcomings in the work of the central bank and these findings were sent to the Integrity Commission, which has decided to withdraw power from al-Shabibi," al-Moussawi said.

The investigation deals at least in part with alleged irregularities involving the exchange of Iraqi dinars for hard currency, according to al-Moussawi and Haitham al-Jabouri, a lawmaker involved in the probe.

About 16 bank employees are targeted in the investigation, al-Jabouri said. He said he expects arrest warrants against some could be issued soon.

Before becoming bank governor in 2003, al-Shabibi worked for more than two decades for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

One of his lawyers, Waleed Mohammed al-Shabibi, defended the governor's innocence. The lawyer described himself as a relative of the governor.

"These charges are politically motivated. Al-Shabibi is honest and professional," said the lawyer. "The government is planning to replace him with another official who takes orders from the government."

Al-Moussawi, the prime minister's spokesman, denied the charge, saying there was no political motivation behind the move.

The bank governor himself could not immediately be reached for comment. His lawyer said al-Shabibi is out of the country. He declined to say where.

Spokespeople for the central bank said they are not authorized to discuss the allegations.

Iraq has rapidly increased its oil output following years of war and neglect, and that has translated into a sharp rise in hard currency reserves. The country earlier this year surpassed next-door Iran as OPEC's second-largest oil producer, and its currency reserves recently topped $60 billion.

But the bank's efforts to keep the dinar stable through its sales of dollars to local banks have come under pressure, particularly over the past year.

Mudhhir Mohammed Salih, the bank's deputy governor, said in January that he believed the civil war in neighboring Syria and international sanctions against Iran had caused a jump in demand for dollars sold by Baghdad.

He said opportunistic businessmen were buying up dollars and then reselling them on the black market to customers across the border, sucking greenbacks out of the country and making it harder for the bank to keep Iraq's dinar stable. The bank aims to keep the local currency set at close to 1,200 dinars per dollar.

Salih separately confirmed he is among those being investigated, but said he has no further details.

___

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sinan Salaheddin, Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi contributed reporting.

THE LINK : http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/16/iraqi-investigating-governor-central-bank-other-senior-officials-in-corruption/

THE LINK : http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2012/10/16/iraq-probes-alleged-corruption-at-central-bank

Iraq suspends central bank governor in forex probe

October 16, 2012 10:03 PM (Last updated: October 16, 2012 10:04 PM)

By Ammar Karim

BAGHDAD: Iraq's cabinet named an interim central bank chief on Tuesday after the bank's well-respected governor, who was on an overseas trip, was suspended amid a currency manipulation probe.

The move followed the announcement of an inquiry into allegations that officials at the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) had intentionally weakened the value of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar.

"The cabinet decided to authorise Abdelbassit Turki, the head of the Board of Supreme Audit, to run the central bank indefinitely," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi said, adding that Sinan al-Shabibi had been suspended from his post by the anti-corruption watchdog.

Mussawi said the investigation had been launched because of "what happened with the dinar exchange rate with the dollar" and that a parliamentary report had blamed "the chief of the bank and several other people."

"The Integrity Commission (anti-corruption watchdog), based on this report, decided to suspend Sinan al-Shabibi... The government, faced with this fact, decided to appoint someone who everyone agreed on, Abdelbassit Turki."

Mussawi declined to comment on whether arrest warrants would be issued for any CBI officials, but Baha al-Araji, chairman of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee, said 30 warrants had been issued, including for Shabibi and his deputy, Mudher Saleh.

Araji said the investigation was "not about money, but about procedures that led to the weakening of the dinar against the dollar."

The Integrity Commission confirmed earlier on Tuesday that it had recently opened an inquiry into the bank, after receiving the parliamentary report.

"I can confirm that we received the Central Bank dossier from the integrity committee in parliament," said commission spokesman Hassan Aati.

"It is currently under investigation. The investigation has just started."

Shabibi, who had been in Tokyo for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, was now in Europe, Deputy Governor Mudher Saleh told AFP. He did not say in which country or when Shabibi was due to return.

Iraq's currency has been largely stable against the dollar for the past few years at around 1,200 dinars to the greenback.

Concerns have been raised, however, that currency auctions organised by the central bank were being used by neighbouring Iran and Syria to shore up foreign currency reserves, allegations the central bank has denied.

It nevertheless tightened its rules on the purchase of dollars earlier this year, requiring banks to provide the identity of individuals or organisations buying them, as well as other information.

In 2010, the Iraqi central bank sold about $100 million per day, according to Saleh. That increased to between $150 and $160 million in the first 10 months of 2011 and reached around $200 million early this year, before peaking at $300 million.

Shabibi, 70, became CBI governor shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. He obtained his PhD from Britain's Bristol University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on managing industrialisation during times of uncertain oil prices.

In an interview with AFP in May, Shabibi acknowledged having disagreements with the government. He noted that there might be some within the government who wanted to use the central bank's reserves for spending, but insisted that, on the whole, the bank had a "very good relationship" with the government.

"We have a very good relationship with the government. Not very good, but I mean, no central banker has good relations with the government. But we have relations... and we understand the concerns of the government," he said.

"Of course sometimes we have very strong arguments."

He said "there are of course people, some of them are in the government" who wanted to use central bank reserves rather than preserve them.

But "I think less and less people think of reserves as being a tool for development. Logic won, not me.

THE LINK: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2012/Oct-16/191629-iraq-cabinet-names-interim-central-bank-governor-spokesperson.ashx#ixzz29WdG3JhT'>http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2012/Oct-16/191629-iraq-cabinet-names-interim-central-bank-governor-spokesperson.ashx#ixzz29WdG3JhT

(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)