KTFA:

MilitiaMan:  The 2020 budget is not off the table yet, imo. The cannot legislate (enact) it yet. It is not to be looked over. It has a purpose with it. We won't see anything in 2021 with out this year.

Next year is what will come after this year is sorted.

Notice the mention of the PRESSURE from parties and the STREET! They have it slated for later the Cabinet to finish this week and then the Parliament will see it next week.

Well later this week could be from now through Saturday, next week starts Sunday. All to be done within or over the legislative time frame of a two week period.

They already have had one special session on it already. Most likely imo the 2019 FMLA is inside it, thus, it is being timed accordingly.

Lets not forget the electronic systems to be in place at the Borders and the GOI. They need to fire once they decide to go international or expose a new exchange rate.

They will need to be transparent. Thus, we see the adjustments being made to personnel at 8-9 key places. They include the CBI. All still looks very promising.. imo.. ~ MM

Samson:  The arrest of the former head of the retirement authority, Ahmed Al-Saadi, by a force tasked with arresting the corrupt

21:50 - 09/15/2020

A security source said, on Tuesday, that a force from the Counter-Terrorism Service had arrested the former head of the National Retirement Authority, Ahmed Al-Saadi, in the center of the capital, Baghdad.

The source stated to "the information" that "a security force led by Lieutenant General Ahmed Abu Ragheef, in charge of combating corruption, arrested this evening the former director of the National Retirement Authority, Ahmed Al-Saadi, in Al-Wathba Square in the center of the capital, Baghdad."

He added that "Al-Saadi is now inside the headquarters of the Swat forces, and it will be presented to the competent judge tomorrow, Wednesday," without further details.   LINK

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Samson:  With Al-Saadi ... 6 officials were arrested as part of a campaign led by Al-Kazemi

15th September, 2020
A security source said, on Tuesday, that a "SWAT" force has arrested six Iraqi officials as part of the anti-corruption campaign led by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.  

The source said, to Shafaq News Agency, that "a security force from Swat arrested today  six officials, along with the former director of the retirement authority, Ahmed Al-Saadi, in Baghdad, on charges of corruption."

The source pointed out that "there is a campaign against senior officials that will be implemented soon," without further details.

An informed source said earlier today, Tuesday, that a counterterrorism force had arrested the former head of the pension authority, Ahmed Al-Saadi, in Baghdad on charges of corruption, indicating that he was placed in custody until he was brought up tomorrow, Wednesday, to the integrity investigation judge. The source indicated that the military force moved to arrest Al-Saadi on the orders of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.

Al-Kazemi issued earlier in the ongoing poetry to form a permanent committee to investigate corruption cases headed by the human rights team at the Ministry of Interior, Ahmed Taha Hashem, and the membership of representatives of the Intelligence and National Security and Integrity Commission (official), provided that its findings are presented to the Prime Minister . Al-Kazemi also tasked the forces of the Counter-Terrorism Service, which includes the elite army, to implement decisions issued by investigative judges or specialized courts related to corruption cases.

This is the first time that the army has been assigned to undertake this task entrusted to the security forces in Iraq. And the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service forces were armed and trained by elements of the American army, to combat the militants of the terrorist organization "ISIS" in the country.

The fight against corruption is at the top of the demands of the massive protests that Iraq has witnessed since October 2019. Iraq is among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International's index over the past years, and international reports are always received of waste and embezzlement.   LINK

Samson:  Integrity prepares 479 international recovery files against fugitive convicts outside Iraq

09:56 - 09/16/2020

On Wednesday, the Integrity Commission called for the need to enact a law preventing dual nationalities from assuming senior positions in the country, and while it revealed that it had prepared 479 international recovery files against convicted fugitives outside the country, it confirmed its success in recovering and preventing the waste of four trillion dinars during the past two years.

The head of the recovery department at the authority, Muhammad Ali Muften, said in an interview followed by / the information /, that “the department has prepared 479 international recovery files against convicts fleeing outside the country, totaling 194 convicts,” pointing out that “54 convicts have been arrested.”

Muften added, "The foreign judicial authorities refused to hand over 43 of them to their Iraqi counterparts, and there are three others whose cases are still pending before foreign courts, while the Iraqi authorities have recovered eight convicts, including a minister and of his degree." He continued, “The department’s efforts resulted in the Lebanese judicial authorities arresting the former Minister of Trade in 2017, and the Iraqi judicial authorities received him in 2018. The total sentences imposed against him are 650 years in prison, and the money demanded to return it is 800 million dollars.

"The international files of recovery also included the former governor of Kirkuk and the mayor of Baghdad, and they were arrested last year by the Lebanese and Syrian authorities, but they refused to hand them over to Iraq," Muften added, stressing that "his department continues with the procedures for recovering the convicts, many of whom reside in Jordan, Turkey, the Emirates and Syria." He revealed, “The success of his department in recovering 12 million euros from Spain, representing the value of oil shipments prepared from the Ministry of Oil to a Spanish company in 1988, and the technical support team also recovered funds for the dissolved Military Industrialization Organization that were deposited in a Jordanian bank, with 500 thousand dollars deposited in the account of a person. And his wife was a director of a dissolved military manufacturing company in a Lebanese bank.

And the director of the recovery department continued that his department “recovered two million and 300 thousand pounds after following up on the first convict in the case of the British explosive detection devices (Jim McCromick), and also recovered 23 billion and 516 million dinars and 500 thousand dollars from convicts convicted in absentia, and seized movable and immovable money for convicts outside the country. And prevent them from disposing of it until they appear before the Iraqi judiciary, announcing the success of the commission over the past two years in recovering and preventing the waste of more than four trillion dinars.

He revealed “the existence of impediments in the field of recovery, the most prominent of which is dual nationality, calling for the enactment of a law that prohibits the assumption of dual nationalities to senior positions in the state in implementation of Article (18) / Fourth of the constitution, which stipulates that whoever holds a high security or sovereign position must give up any Another acquired nationality, in addition to the absence of obligation and penalties for countries that host the smuggled money and the accused,” pointing out “the importance of concluding international agreements between Iraq and the rest of the countries, which will ensure overcoming some of these obstacles.” LINK

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Samson: A little more detail exactly what was agreed to in Washington

15th September, 2020

Ambassador Tueller: “During the bilateral Strategic Dialogue, top officials of our two countries discussed topics like economic development, trade and finance, energy and oil, security, and the international community’s support for free and fair Iraqi elections. They also discussed humanitarian, environmental, and health issues, and educational and cultural cooperation.

Today, we’re introducing a new series of short videos to help explain in a little more detail exactly what was agreed to in Washington – and exactly what a partnership with the United States means for Iraq and the Iraqi people.“    VIDEO   LINK

Samson:  Iraq budget 2020: its deficit is close to half, and its money for salaries and corona

16th September, 2020
The Parliamentary Economic and Investment Committee revealed, on Wednesday, the size of the federal budget deficit for the year 2020, indicating that it focuses on securing salaries and financing the ration card, as well as facing the Corona pandemic.

A member of the committee, Ali Al-Lami, told Shafaq News, "The draft general budget for the year 2020 does not contain any investment allocations, and focused only on securing the salaries of employees and retirees, financing the ration card and providing financial allocations to the Ministry of Health to confront the Corona pandemic."

He added that "the financial deficit in the 2020 budget is 45%," noting that "budget financing depends on oil and non-oil revenues, in addition to financial loans that the government has directed to within the fiscal borrowing law for the year 2020."

The Iraqi Council of Ministers approved, on Monday, the draft federal budget law for 2020, and sent it to the House of Representatives.

The spokesman for the Prime Minister, Ahmed Mulla Talal, said in a tweet to him, which was seen by Shafaq News Agency, that “in order to organize the spending process and secure the necessary expenditures for the remaining three months of the fiscal year, and in compliance with the decision of the Council of Representatives, the Cabinet approved the draft Federal Budget Law 2020, And send it to the House of Representatives." LINK

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Samson:  Kuwait receives from Iraq the remains of 21 missing Kuwaitis

16th September, 2020

The Kuwaiti embassy in the capital, Baghdad, received today, Wednesday, 21 remains of Kuwaiti prisoners believed to be of Kuwaiti prisoners lost during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The embassy said in a statement received by Shafaq News, that it is a continuation of the efforts made in the file of Kuwaiti prisoners and missing persons and nationals of other countries through the mechanism of work of the tripartite and technical sub-committees emanating from it two internationals headed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the membership of the State of Kuwait, the Republic of Iraq, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of France, in addition to the United Nations Mission to Support Iraq (UNAMI) - as observers.

The statement added that "the remains of remains believed to belong to Kuwaiti prisoners and missing persons who were found in the Samawah desert are being transferred and handed over today, based on preliminary indications."

The statement noted that genetic testing and identification of these remains will be conducted in the State of Kuwait through the General Administration of Criminal Evidence to match the results with the database of Kuwaiti prisoners and missing persons and nationals of other countries. LINK