Iraqi News Early Monday AM 10-25-21
Iraqi News Early Monday AM 10-25-21
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
Employees Refuse Health Insurance Law Deductions For Lack Of Confidence In The Way They Are Invested, As Well As Corruption
10/24/2021 20:38 number of readings 181 Section : file and analysis Baghdad / Obelisk: With the approaching start of the implementation of the health insurance and the start of the Ministry of Finance to make mandatory deductions from the salaries of employees, social media, street conversations and private and public meetings are buzzing with the opinions of citizens who are upset about the deductions that will strike their salaries.
The head of the Iraqi Doctors Syndicate, Jassem Al-Azzawi, said in a televised statement that the law will include, in its first stage, three million Iraqis during the next six months, while noting that the health insurance law must be applied despite the presence of some shortcomings in the health system.
Al-Azzawi explained that the state will contribute to health insurance, which is better than insurance companies, which collect approximately $1,000 per year or a little less, stressing that 10% of this amount will be paid by the citizen to the insurance fund, which may not exceed 100,000 dinars annually.
According to unofficial information, deductions amount to approximately 10% of the salary per month, meaning that 100,000 dinars are deducted from the employee who receives one million dinars per month, but other information indicates that the deduction is only 1%, meaning that 10 thousand dinars are deducted per month from those whose salary is one million dinars. monthly.
Although popular voices came to pass the long-awaited health insurance law, employees expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the deduction that would hit their salaries.
Hassanein Al-Khafaji, an employee in the Ministry of Education, says: In a country like Iraq, this law is considered theft of another kind.
Al-Khafaji added that forcing the employee in itself is a transgression of his rights as an individual to express an opinion about acceptance or not, that is, if the law was beneficial and tempting to the employees, there was no need for coercion.
But Falah Al-Khurasan - an employee in the Ministry of Communications - said, that health insurance is a global system approved by most developed countries.
The employee with a salary of one million dinars pays only 10 thousand dinars per month, and if a disease occurs and he visits the hospital, he receives a reduction and everything may reach 80% of costs.
As the employee in the Ministry of Labor, Muhammad Qassem, says, mocking the law: It is hoped that the state will open a fund that will deduct 50% of the salaries in order to discover the percentages of unknown fathers, and it is possible that the state will cancel the salaries and work with the barter system!
However, Mustafa Al-Hiti, the captain of the Pharmacists' Syndicate, stated in a press statement that there are different payment rates, indicating that the citizen covered by the health insurance will pay 25% of the cost of medical services he receives, compared to 75% that will be paid by the insurance fund.
Citizens fear that the financial deductions will go to other than their intended purposes, and will go into the pockets of the corrupt, or invest incorrectly due to red tape and poor management, expecting that even if funds are available from the deductions, the health sector will remain as it is of neglect and weak infrastructure. LINK
Sources Reveal Former Mps Accused Of Corruption Who Avoid Prosecution By Traveling Abroad
10/23/2021 19:59 number of readings 332 Section : file and analysis Baghdad / Obelisk: Sources revealed, on Saturday, October 23, 2021, that former deputies left Iraq abroad, for fear of prosecution after the lifting of immunities, while a government official confirmed the existence of judicial files against at least 12 deputies in the dissolved parliament.
As a result of the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament on the seventh of this October, the parliamentary immunity guaranteed by the constitution was lifted from hundreds of deputies, whose results showed the last legislative elections that were held on October 10, the loss of more than 70 percent of their seats, which means that the ministerial committee in charge By pursuing corruption files by the caretaker government headed by Mustafa Al-Kazemi, it will be able to investigate any of them.
The Iraqi constitution grants parliamentary immunity to members of the House of Representatives for the duration of the parliamentary session, which is four years, and the judiciary is not entitled, according to this immunity, to prosecute MPs during this period, except for crimes related to the flagrant offense.
Officials spoke about more than 40 deputies whose names were mentioned in financial corruption cases after investigating officials who were arrested, most notably the director of public retirement, Ahmed Al-Saadi, the director of the Key Card company, Bahaa Al-Maamouri, and the head of the solution party, Jamal Karbouli.
A government official revealed, according to reports, which Al-Masala reviewed, that there are judicial files against at least 12 deputies in the dissolved parliament, including confessions of current detainees on corruption charges.
The value of money wasted due to corruption since 2003 is estimated at hundreds of billions.
At the end of August 2020, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi formed a supreme committee, with wide powers, to open corruption files, investigate officials, and put a special force affiliated with the Anti-Terrorism Service under the command of the committee, which succeeded in arresting a number of officials and politicians. Obelisk LINK
Generalization Of The Credit Card Reader On Cash Transactions
Monday 25 October 2021 145 Baghdad: Mustafa Al-Hashemi The Central Bank adopted new mechanisms in the payments system several years ago, but this system did not achieve the ambitions due to the existence of a financial gap between smart card holders, caused by the incomplete automation process, which led to the continued dependence of citizens on cash withdrawals with financial losses distributed among the owners of outlets and exchanges.
The mechanism, which calls for adopting comprehensive solutions represented in circulating the credit card reader device to all cash transactions, in a way that encourages dealing in electronic cash.
According to the Central Bank, one of the most important achievements in the payment systems in the Payments Department is the start of work to assess the readiness of the Iraqi payment system, in line with the international standards {PFMIs} of the World Bank to upgrade payment and settlement systems in the country, within the agreement with the World Bank, which deals with payment systems electronics in Iraq.
The achievements were also represented in reforming the mechanism for paying the salaries of employees of institutions and state departments by localizing their salaries to bank accounts, including allocations and benefits, to an electronic system, as well as enhancing the role of payment systems in financial inclusion through digital services provided by banks and electronic payment service providers.
An important dimension in the strategy of the Central Bank, automating work through the use of electronic payment tools and encouraging the use of financial and banking services provided by banks and electronic payment service providers.
The Reality Of Automation And The Citizen
The specialist in banking affairs, Adel Al-Nuaimi, stated that, “The smart card system is a global system in which countries work to limit the circulation of cash and encourage their citizens to deal with the electronic payments system in an integrated system, unlike what exists inside Iraq, as it is an imperfect process.”
Al-Naimi explained to “Al-Sabah” that “credit card readers” devices are only available at salary distribution outlets only,
while the success of automation requires the dissemination of these devices to all shops, markets, filling stations and every party that deals with “cash”, which would reduce Financial losses, and tangible development on the ground, not just on paper.
Interbank Market
For his part, the banker, Taha Ammar, said: {The payment system in Iraq needs to review and standardize the ATM reading of all smart cards, not as is the case now that each bank has its own ATM}.
Ammar added to {Al-Sabah}: {The banking reality in the country needs to activate the interbank market to be a platform that establishes an organized electronic financial market that opens and facilitates the way for foreign investment in Iraq on the one hand, and to increase cooperation between banks and improve their ability to diversify financial services to their clients. On the other hand, attracting commercial and financial operations available in the market. https://alsabaah.iq/56671/
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