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The judiciary investigates "major violations" in the foreign currency auction


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The judiciary investigates "major violations" in the foreign currency auction

 
  Baghdad: Muhammad Al-Ansari
 
Markets in the capital Baghdad and the governorates are living in a state of turmoil and prices are rising days after the decision to raise the dollar exchange rate; On Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Council issued a directive to all investigation courts to take legal measures against anyone who causes harm to the national economy.
The Judicial Media stated in a statement that "the Supreme Judicial Council has directed a circular issued by all investigation courts to take legal measures against everyone who causes harm to the national economy, whether from foreign currency dealers or monopolistic traders of goods, food commodities and essential commodities that citizens need daily."
The council requested «the Ministry of the Interior to instruct the competent police directorates to do so to conduct inspection tours to wholesale stores and places of sale of foreign currency to arrest those who violate the law.
The judicial statement continued that “it is worth noting that the investigation court specialized in combating money laundering started several days ago conducting an investigation regarding the auction of selling foreign currency and the violations of some private banks of the law to participate in the auction of selling foreign currency, and the competent judge stated that (the investigation reached advanced stages) and revealed For illegal operations, fraud and fraud to participate in the auction of selling currency and smuggling foreign currency out of the country ».
In addition, the reporter of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ahmed Al-Saffar, said: “His committee refuses to compromise the salaries of employees, because it represents a new burden on them,” indicating that “changing the exchange rate of the dinar is an indirect reduction of a person’s income, because changing the exchange rate of the dinar means reducing salaries indirectly. What will lead to inflation in the market due to high prices, and therefore the employee’s salary does not come with the same quantity of goods that he used to bring before the reduction.
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 2020-12-24 05:43
 

Shafaq News / The Rusafa Investigation Court, which is competent to look into issues of integrity, money laundering and economic crime, decided on Thursday to take legal measures against thirteen banks for violations of entering the currency auction without submitting customs permits that support the entry of goods, tax accounting, and suspicions of falsifying documents related to this.

 

The Media Center of the Supreme Judicial Council stated in a statement today that the aforementioned court decided to bring in the authorized directors of the violating banks due to their breach of the due diligence procedures imposed by the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law No. (39) of 2015.

 

On Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Council directed uncles issued by it to all investigation courts to take legal measures against everyone who caused damage to the national economy, whether from foreign currency dealers or monopolistic merchants of goods, food commodities and essential commodities that people need daily.

 

In a statement, the Council requested the Ministry of the Interior to instruct the competent police directorates to conduct inspection tours of wholesale stores and places of sale of foreign currency to catch those who violate the law.

 

The statement noted that the investigation court specialized in combating money laundering began several days ago to conduct an investigation regarding the auction of selling foreign currency and violations of the law by some private banks to participate in the auction of selling foreign currency.

 

The competent judge stated that the investigation had reached advanced stages and revealed illegal operations, fraud and fraud to participate in the auction of selling currency and smuggling foreign currency outside the country.

 

These uncles come after the Central Bank of Iraq decided to reduce the dinar against the foreign currency, especially the dollar, which led to an increase in imported goods and commodities, especially food, medicine and other necessities of life.

 

The Ministry of the Interior had deployed detachments to combat economic crime in the markets to monitor prices and prevent manipulation of them, while stressing that some merchants would not allow monopoly of materials.

 

 

 

"The role of the Ministry of the Interior is limited to monitoring the prices set by the relevant authorities," said the ministry’s spokesman, Major General Khaled Al-Muhanna, in statements reported by official government media.

 

He added that "the monitoring process is through the Economic Crime Control Directorate of the Ministry of Interior."

 

The Minister of Interior, Othman Al-Ghanimi had confirmed earlier, that detachments were moved in all governorates to implement the law against those trying to tamper with prices, taking advantage of the crisis.

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Firm measures by the judiciary against 13 banks over issues related to currency auctions and dollar trade!
 

Baghdad - People  

On Thursday, the Supreme Judicial Council announced that legal measures have been taken against 13 banks following violations of entering the currency auction without submitting customs permits confirming the entry of goods.  

And the judicial media stated, in a statement, that "people" received a copy of it, (December 24, 2020), that "the Rusafa investigation court, which is competent to look into issues of integrity, money laundering and economic crime, decided to take legal measures against thirteen banks for violations of entering the currency auction without presenting it." Customs declarations supporting the entry of goods, tax accounting, and suspicions of falsifying documents related to this.  


The statement added, "The aforementioned court decided to bring in the authorized directors of the violating banks due to their breach of the due diligence procedures imposed by the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39) of 2015."  

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Al-Mustaqilah /… The Rusafa Investigation Court, which is competent to examine issues of integrity, money laundering and economic crime, decided to take legal measures against thirteen banks for violations of entering the currency auction without submitting customs permits.

 

The Media Center of the Supreme Judicial Council stated in a statement received by the (Independent) today, Thursday, that the aforementioned court decided to bring in the authorized directors of the violating banks due to their breach of the due diligence procedures imposed by the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law No. (39) of 2015.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Council directed the uncles issued by it to all investigation courts to take legal measures against all those who caused damage to the national economy, whether from foreign currency traders or monopolistic merchants of goods, food commodities and essential commodities that people need daily.

 

The Council requested the Ministry of the Interior to instruct the competent police directorates to conduct inspection tours of wholesale stores and places of sale of foreign currency to arrest those who violate the law.

The statement noted that the investigation court specialized in combating money laundering began several days ago to conduct an investigation regarding the auction of selling foreign currency and violations of the law by some private banks to participate in the auction of selling foreign currency.

The competent judge stated that the investigation had reached advanced stages and revealed illegal operations, fraud and fraud to participate in the auction of selling currency and smuggling foreign currency outside the country. (End)

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Iraq judicial council calls for prosecuting those who harm the economy

 
December 24, 2020 at 11:31 am | Published in: Iraq, Middle East, News
Iraqi dinar banknotes [Ali Choukeir/AFP/Getty Images]
An Iraqi counts his dinar banknotes on 22 June 2017 [Ali Choukeir/AFP/Getty Images]

The President of the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq, judge Faiq Zaidan, yesterday issued a directive to all investigative courts in the country to take legal measures against anyone who causes harm to the economy.

Zaidan called on the courts to take legal measures against anyone who harms the national economy, including foreign currency dealers, traders who monopolise food commodities and/ or essential goods.

He also called on the Ministry of Interior to instruct the competent police directorates to conduct inspection visits to wholesale stores and places that sell foreign currency and arrest anyone who violates the law.

Iraqi courts concerned with combating money laundering have recently started an investigation into the possible auctioning of foreign currency in the Central Bank of Iraq and other violations by some banks.

Authorities recently devalued the country's currency. In a statement, the Central Bank set the new rate for the dinar, which is pegged to the US dollar, at 1,450 IQD causing an unprecedented rise in the price of basic commodities.

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Gotta keep your faith... Faith in Iraq, Faith in their people, Faith in a higher power, and of utmost, Faith in your every move... be sound and witness the culmination of 20-25yrs of financial/economic reform... 

Happy Holidays DV 🎊🎉 here's to pay the people & distribute them land... Ours will come I have major Faith in this, over all the years... We are finally seeing everything line right up were in the mist of mass confusion right now, like shabibi said ... Then we will be set. Exchanging anywhere for a 3+ usd to 1 iqd

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Iraq's Central Bank under investigation for alleged money laundering

Country's Supreme Judicial Council also probing allegations of involvement in terrorist financing by Central Bank of Iraq, along with 13 private banks
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Police guard the Central Bank of Iraq HQ in Baghdad on 22 December 2020 after a currency devaluation caused panic and anger among Iraqis (AFP)
Published date: 26 December 2020 18:00 UTC | Last update: 1 hour 49 mins ago
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Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council is investigating the country's central bank and 13 private banks over alleged involvement in money laundering and terrorist financing operations, lawmakers and officials have told Middle East Eye.

In response to a parliamentary probe that ended last month, the council is understood to be investigating cases of customs and tax evasion and potential fraud in connection with the foreign exchange auction run by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) and the 13 private entities.

A statement issued by the Supreme Judicial Council on Thursday said that the Rusafa Investigation Court, which oversees cases of integrity, money laundering and economic crimes, had decided to "bring in" the directors of the banks "for violating the procedures of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law (No 39) of 2015".

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The statement did not mention any details of the "violations", or the names of the banks involved. However, the Parliamentary Finance Committee revealed the existence of "suspicious operations" concerning officials in the CBI, who were reported to be aiming to exploit the foreign exchange auction.

MPs and bankers told Middle East Eye that the CBI, which does not deal with individuals, had become a hub for money laundering and currency smuggling due to weak supervisory measures.

To acquire US dollars, Iraq has an account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which draws on Iraq's vast oil reserves. As the Baghdad government sells oil in US dollars, it uses the currency to buy Iraqi dinars from the CBI in order to finance salaries and public services.

The CBI then sells the dollars to private banks with a mark-up of 10 dinars on the dollar. Instead of bringing the dollars back into the country, the CBI is understood to deposit it in foreign banks, outside of the country, in exchange for invoices presented by the private banks to cover imported goods, lawmakers and bankers told MEE.

'False invoices for fake goods'

"The game is that these [private Iraqi] banks give false invoices for fake goods," Mohammed Saheb al-Darraji, a member of the Financial Parliamentary Committee and the chairman of the parliamentary probe, told MEE.

"In other words, there are no goods for the money deposited outside Iraq, and this is money laundering, as the source of this money is unknown or illegal.

"The CBI has to investigate the invoices and impose fines. But the CBI has stopped checking bills since 2016, under the pretext that they are not responsible for this matter," he added.

"The operation is deliberate. The CBI is ignoring this step due to bribes and political influence in order for the money laundering process to take place properly."

'There are no goods for the money deposited outside Iraq, and this is money laundering as the source of this money is unknown or illegal'

- Mohammed Saheb al-Darraji, chair of parliamentary probe

The investigative committee chaired by Darraji revealed that the period from 1 January to 1 September had seen the transfer of $27bn out of Iraq, while receiving no more than three percent of its customs revenues.

According to customs instructions, the merchant who imports goods from abroad must pay 15 percent of the value of the goods as customs, meaning that the annual customs revenues must reach 15 percent of the value of the sums transferred outside Iraq in dollars when it is transferred under the pretext of importing goods.

"The customs revenues that Iraq is supposed to get are 15 percent of the value of the amount that was transferred, that is, $4bn. The actual receipt is only three percent, or $418m," Darraji said.

"This means that the rate of waste reaches 12 percent. Where did this go?"

Until last week, the CBI used to buy $1 at 1,182 dinars from the Iraqi government and then sell it to private banks and financial transfer offices for 1,190 dinars.

Lawmakers and bankers told MEE that the private banks would then sell $1 to the final beneficiary at a price of 1,250 dinars, a difference of up to 60 dinars per dollar.

"The daily profit from this operation reaches $11m, while the monthly profit reaches $220m, while the annual profit reaches $2.64bn," Sabah al-Saaidi, a member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, said in a televised parliament session last month.

"The only beneficiary of this operation is a group of private banks. Neither the government nor the citizen are beneficiaries of this process."

Panic as prices rise

Most Iraqi political forces depend on illegal sources of funding, including through money laundering, commissions, extortion and oil and drug smuggling, lawmakers said.

There are at least 52 private banks in the country, according to the public records of the CBI, and most are either used or owned by political forces to participate in the foreign currency auction and conceal their funding sources, Parliamentary Financial Committee investigations revealed.

In an attempt to curb the smuggling of the dollar and reduce the annual budget deficit for 2021 - around $43bn - the Iraqi Ministry of Finance raised the dollar exchange rate to 1,450 dinars on Saturday, which immediately caused the prices of goods to rise sharply, causing panic among citizens.

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While the government has defended the decision to devalue the dinar, which means it will get more Iraqi dinars from the central bank, the move threatens to spark popular demonstrations across the country.

A key adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi told MEE that devaluation, tax increases and austerity measures were the "only option" to address the liquidity crisis after proposals to reduce public salaries had been rejected.

"The devaluation is a response to the urgent need to stop the collapse of the Iraqi economy, reduce the budget deficit and stop the bleeding of foreign currency - and this [is in response] to pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund," the adviser said.

"Iranian and Turkish goods have been invading Iraqi markets, and the competing power of Iraqi goods... is almost non-existent, with complete reliance on oil sales. All these factors have forced the government to search for other financial resources to reduce the budget deficit.

"The country is heading for a real disaster and Kadhimi is trying to stop the bleeding with shocking measures," the adviser added.

"All political forces know this and agreed to it, but they have actually started trading this issue, and a number of them have begun to mobilise demonstrations to protest against the government's actions."
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