A tight grip on government authorities to replace Shabibi
A tight grip on government authorities to replace Shabibi
22/10/2012 (19:11 pm)
Translation term,
experts and diplomats said that the targeting of the central bank governor, this gentleman, it seems like a step taken by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in order to integrate power in his grip and send a bad message to foreign investors. In the past week has been replaced Shabibi Governor of the Central Bank, while he was out of the country and the issuance of an arrest warrant against him and against other officials in the bank charges currency manipulation.
This step is the latest to undermine the independence of the central bank, having developed the Supreme Court in the past year the bank under the supervision of the government rather than Parliament. Says Crispin Howes Director Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group, “It is another step on the way to central control extremist, it is through the defense and interior ministries controlled Maliki directly to the bank, because the two ministries allies main to the Prime Minister, is a story known.” Work Shabibi, an economist of 70 years, over two decades in the form of trade and investment of the United Nations and a former central bank governor since 2003. What analysts and diplomats as a competent technocrat struggled to maintain the independence of the central bank. However, the government has decided on Tuesday to replace Mr. Abdel Basset Turki Chairman of the Board of Supreme Audit after a parliamentary report accused Shabibi and other bank officials of manipulating currency, according to a statement spokesman Ali al-Moussawi, Maliki’s office. Says Abdul Rahman al-Mashhadani, head of the Department of Economics at the University of Mustansiriya “I do not think the charges was divorced from the truth because Mr. Shabibi known economic reputable Odhu. Perhaps there is corruption in the Central Bank, but he is not a high level. In fact, we economists look at the appearance of Mohammed Saleh – Deputy Governor of the Central Bank – as a professor for us. ”
comes the decision to expel Shabibi after he has sought to expel the former Chief Election Commissioner and to carry out reforms which are likely to give more influence Dawa Party. Maliki has succeeded in both cases. Said Joost Hiltermann Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa in the International Crisis Group in Brussels, “would say the Maliki government that step taken against Shabibi is part of efforts long to root out corruption, but they seem endeavors long to control the independent institutions. Problem is that even if Some allegations – in this case or others, such as the issue of al-Hashemi – everything from health, it is impossible to detect because of the judicial process in the country remains very flawed, “referring to the death sentence in absentia against Tareq al-Hashemi. On the issue of expulsion Shabibi, said Hiltermann, saying “It’s a step is positive, as the country headed for a series of elections job,” a provincial elections in 2013 and national elections public in the following year.
Opponents Maliki – mostly members of the national unity government headed by – accuse him of integrating power and authoritarian behavior which gradually rising, while Maliki denies his part, those charges and insists he wrestles with the Alliance impractical. But there is still a lot of skeptics, they point to the dispute with Communications Minister Mohammed Allawi, forcing him to resign from the government, claiming that al-Maliki intervene in his ministry. Says one Western diplomat who declined to be named said “This case is similar to the issue of al-Maliki with the Minister of Communications, where Maliki wants to run things alone. Seems to have a personal problem with Shabibi and it comes to the law”.
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