KTFA:

Samson:  Petrofac fined £77m for paying bribes in Iraq

5th October, 2021

The British oil services group, Petrofac, announced that it had received a fine of 77 million pounds for paying bribes in Iraq and other countries in an investigation of corruption that lasted for more than 4 years

The company said in a statement on its website seen by "Economy News", that "Southwark Crown Court imposed a total fine of 77 million pounds (approximately 104.6 million US dollars) in relation to seven historical contracts for crimes of failure to prevent former Petrofac employees from submitting or making payments to agents in connection with projects awarded between 2012 and 2015, in the countries of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates contrary to Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act 2010

The penalty consists of the following elements: a forfeiture order of £22.8 million payable by 3 January 2022; A fine of £47.2 million payable on February 14, 2022, and Serious Fraud Office costs of £7 million due on February 14, 2022

This draws a line under an unfortunate period in our history," said company president Rene Midori. "We have taken responsibility, corrected and learned from past mistakes," noting that "the extensive work we've done since the start of the SFO investigation means Petrofac today has a compliance and governance system in place." Comprehensive that meets or exceeds international best practices

British oil services group Petrofac said on September 25 that it would plead guilty to seven counts of bribery to secure projects in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates between 2012 and 2015, describing it as a "very unfortunate period   LINK

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Samson:  Arrest and summons orders against dozens of Iraqi officials

5th October, 2021

On Tuesday, the Federal Integrity Commission issued arrest and recruitment orders issued and executed against high-ranking people during the month of August, indicating that the total of these orders amounted to 55 orders.

The Commission's Investigation Department stated in a statement received by NRT Arabic, a copy of it, (October 5, 2021), that "the judicial authorities issued (55) arrest warrants and summonses for those with higher degrees; against the background of cases and files that the Commission investigated and referred them to the judiciary during the month of August. Referring to the issuance of (9) arrest warrants, and (46) recruitment orders for the period (1-31/8/2021). 

The statement added, "The arrest and recruitment orders included (7) members of the House of Representatives, as well as a former minister and a former minister, and (3) former deputy ministers, and those orders also included (4) former governors and (5) "former" governors. And (9) current general managers, (9) former and former general managers, and (14) members of the provincial councils. 

The authority had announced in its mid-term report for the current year the number of arrest warrants issued based on its investigations, confirming the issuance of (858) arrest warrants, while the number of recruitment orders during the same period reached (3208).   LINK

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Samson:  Kurdistan Integrity refers 100 corruption files to the judiciary within 6 months

5th October, 2021

The Integrity Commission of Kurdistan Region announced today, Tuesday, that it had registered 650 complaints during the first six months of this knowledge related to corruption files.

The authority said in a statement received by Shafak News Agency, that the first six months of this year, 650 complaints were registered with the authority regarding corruption files, indicating that "100 files were referred to the judiciary."

The statement indicated that "there is high-level coordination between the Integrity Commission in the Kurdistan Region and the Federal Integrity Commission," explaining that "all files are scheduled to be announced at the end of the year, to be documented by the Federal Integrity."

He added, "There are fears for the future of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region due to the increase in corruption files," stressing that "this requires joint cooperation between the two parties to eliminate this phenomenon."

The statement stressed that "the past days witnessed a meeting in Baghdad between the two bodies, and the corruption files in the country were discussed," noting that "it was reported that nearly $300 billion was lost as a result of rampant corruption in the country."  LINK

Samson:  Nechirvan Barzani: Opponents of the application of Article 140 of the Constitution are against the will of 80% of Iraqis

5th October, 2021

The President of Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani considered on Tuesday that those opposed to the application of Article 140 of the Constitution are against the will of 80 percent of Iraqis who voted for the country's permanent constitution in 2005.

Barzani, the deputy head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said at an electoral festival for the people of Kirkuk in Erbil, "Oh, Kirkuk people, your lands are subject to Arabization, and being Kurdish and Kirkuk is very difficult." He addressed the people of Kirkuk by saying: We are all with you, and we are of mind, thought and feelings. We are all Kirkuk, adding that Kirkuk's wealth should be used to provide job opportunities, and to reconstruct Kirkuk, not to be a subject of greed, and to change the demography of the province.

He added that our war was on the national identity of Kirkuk and its historical geography, as well as the rest of the areas cut off from the Kurdistan region, and we were never against any component, indicating that our demands were not for Kirkuk's oil, but rather our demands on the identity of Kirkuk.

The head of the region said: We do not want to wage a national war against the people of Kirkuk at all. On the contrary to all the previous regimes that followed the rule of Iraq, we want to provide services and establish stability, security, and achieve true coexistence among the components that live in this province, stressing that " We do not want, through the fighting, to resolve the fate of Kirkuk, but through Article 140 of the constitution, and this is a legitimate and natural right because the Iraqi people, in 2005, voted on this article.”

Barzani renewed his demand for the application of this constitutional article, saying: Those who oppose its application are against peace, against the constitution, against Iraq's stability, and against coexistence, adding that "those opposed to its application are against the free will of 80 percent of the Iraqi people who voted for the constitution."

Kirkuk is one of the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad covered by Article 140 of the Constitution, and was under joint authority between the Kurdistan Region and the Federal Government before the independence referendum that the region held in September of 2017.

Article 140 provides for the removal of demographic policies conducted by Saddam Hussein's regime in the disputed areas in favor of the Arabs at the expense of the Kurds, and then census the population before the last step, which is to hold a referendum according to which the population determines whether they wish to join the Kurdistan Region or remain under the administration of Baghdad.

It was scheduled to complete the implementation stages of the article until the end of 2007, but security and political problems prevented that. The Federal Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that Article (140) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq should remain in force, stressing that this will continue until its requirements are implemented and the objective of its legislation is achieved.  LINK

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Don961:  Banking reform and fiscal stimulus

Tuesday 05 October 2021

Samir Al-Nusairi Several months ago, the government issued the white paper, which is the roadmap for the desired macroeconomic reform for the coming years.

The white paper, on pages 56 and 57, identified the main objectives of banking sector reform in the medium and long term, between 3-5 years. In fact, it is an accurate diagnosis of the problems that have already been diagnosed by the Central Bank and the World Bank.

It has already developed urgent and strategic solutions and mechanisms for it, as is evident in the Central Bank’s strategy (2016-2020) and strategic banking projects for the years (2019-2023).

The paper focused on the basic objectives of private banking reform.

In turn, we identify proposals for a number of urgent measures and solutions for banking reform to Come:

First - take decisions on financial policy to restore balance between government banks and private banks in terms of capital, activity and tasks, and focus on starting to restructure the Rafidain and Rasheed Banks, according to what was stated in agreement with the World Bank since several years.

Secondly - Through an analytical view of the reality of the Iraqi economy and the challenges facing the fiscal and monetary policies, in particular stimulating and revitalizing the economy with bank financing requires clarity of financial policies and coordination with monetary policy in stimulating Economy.

Third, taking immediate measures to redistribute the banking density of private banks in proportion to the actual need of the Iraqi economy and towards stopping the granting of new licenses to establish new banks and start rehabilitating troubled banks, and studying the economic feasibility of continuing to work or merging them according to the merger guide issued by the Central Bank in 2019.

Fourth - that the nature of the activities of banks depends on the nature of the activities of other economic sectors, and as long as economic activity is concentrated in trade (imports), the activity of banks remains focused on external transfer, and this means that the problem of the currency window is not in the supply of the dollar from the central bank, but rather the reason is the demand for the dollar .. Therefore, unless other sectors (industry, agriculture, tourism and others) move, we cannot expect diversification of banking activity.

Fifthly, it is necessary to provide a legal environment and extend the rule of law in order to eliminate the phenomenon of default in the payment of loans, as the non-performing debts reached up to (5 trillion dinars), 70% of which are government bank debts and 30% are the debts of private banks, which constitute a large percentage of the total monetary credit granted.

Sixth – Activating the implementation of the decisions of the Council of Ministers and the Economic Affairs Committee in the Council of Ministers, which were previously directed to support the banking sector, in particular private banks by opening accounts for ministries and government departments, accepting certified instruments and opening documentary credits to the government in the amount of 50 million dollars without going through the Ministry of Finance and the Iraqi Trade Bank and decisions Others related to borrowing for investment projects, collecting taxes and customs fees, and settling salaries.

Seventh- Considering the cases of bad debts owed by customers in private banks are urgent cases and excellent debts, similar to the debts governmental.

Eighth – Working to provide conditions and take measures to help private banks obtain the internationally approved credit rating, and then strengthen international banking relations with correspondent banks.   LINK