Parliamentary Finance committee question the validity of smuggling $800 million weekly from Iraq
Shafaq News / The Finance Parliamentary Committee in the parliament questioned on Saturday the reports issued by some U.S. organizations that $ 800 million is being smuggled from Iraq weekly in money laundering operations.
The member of the Finance Committee, MP Faleh al-Sari said in an interview with “Shafaq News”, that “we do not believe in the health of the reports circulated by one of the U.S. organizations of smuggling nearly $ 800 million a week from Iraq because of the money laundering operations.”
“A part of the report might be true but not in this size because this size does not fit with what the goods available now in the Iraqi market.”
“The reports of the finance audit office in which this organization depended on it took samples of some goods and some of the transactions in the central bank and audited them with the general taxes board with and the customs board, as there were no documents that didn’t pass through official channels.”
The member of the Finance Committee added that “there are five border outlets in Kurdistan province that are subjected to the controls and there other outlets in the south that could enter goods through it to Iraq is to without passing the customs and that there is a big evasion of taxes for businesses and some merchants.”
Sari pointed out that “a comparison between the money laundering of this size with the volume of goods entering Iraq through the audit of one standard which is the border crossing points can’t be done.”
The General U.S. Inspector on Iraq, Stuart Bowen revealed in his latest quarterly reports before the U.S. Congress that nearly $ 800 million is being smuggled a week out of Iraq illegally.
Bowen considered according to what was quoted by “The Wall Street Journal” American newspaper on its website in 31 of last month, that corruption is still one of the main obstacles that prevent the reconstruction and democracy in Iraq.
Bowen proved the validity of what he says by taking the statements of the Interim head of the Central Bank of Iraq , Abdul Basit Turki last month that “there are approximately a billion U.S. dollars is being smuggled from Iraq a week, but 80% of it is being done through false documents to hide the true goals of the convert.”
The Iraqi Council of Ministers decided at the end the October to appoint the Supreme inspection office head, Abdul Basit Turki instead of Shabibi after an arrest warrant was issued along with 29 other officials in the bank on the background of charges of financial and management corruption.
shafaaq.com
