KTFA:

Samson:  An economist warns of the continued exit of hard currency to other countries

08:34 - 11/02/2021

The economic expert, Ihssan Al-Kinani, warned that the continued exit of hard foreign currency from inside Iraq to the outside will have negative effects on the Iraqi economy, pointing out that any decrease in oil prices will have disastrous consequences for the loss of the currency.

Al-Kinani said to / the information /, that "the exit of foreign currency from Iraq has not noticed its negative effects at the present time due to high oil prices and the large amount of dollars entering the country."

He added that "the banking policy in Iraq is incorrect because of its reliance on the auction of selling the currency and not launching any investment projects to maximize revenues."

And that "the political class’s acquisition of banks, especially the currency auction, will lead to disastrous results that lead to the exit of most of the foreign currency from Iraq." To the outside, either through politicians to deposit them in foreign banks or through trade exchange, as Iraq depends 95 percent on foreign goods.   LINK

Samson:  Parliamentary law is studying a request to hold representatives who were absent from the sessions accountable

10th February, 2021

The Parliamentary Legal Committee revealed, on Wednesday, that it is studying a parliamentary request to hold representatives who are absent from parliament sessions accountable.

A member of the committee, Saeb Khadr, told Shafaq News, "The request was submitted by a number of parliament members, to hold representatives who are absent from attending the council's sessions accountable in accordance with the internal system." He added that "the Parliament Presidency is appointed to take measures and submits them to the relevant committees to take the necessary and hold them accountable in accordance with the internal system of the House of Representatives."

Khadr pointed out that "the dismissal of deputies, accepting their resignations or canceling their membership from the parliamentary session from the authority of the Presidency of the Council after the matter is presented to members of Parliament for a vote on it."

It is noteworthy that all four parliamentary sessions witnessed the absence of a number of representatives from attending the sessions repeatedly, and there are those who do not attend any session until the end of the session, especially some leaders of the large political blocs. LINK

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Samson:  MP: Hundreds of corruption files have been lying on the shelves of the Integrity Commission for years

16:05 - 11/02/2021

On Thursday, a member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, Sabah Taloubi Al-Aqili, accused the Federal Integrity Commission of delaying the procedures for resolving corruption files, indicating that dozens of these files are lying on the shelves.

"Hundreds of corruption files have been lying on the shelves of the Integrity Commission for years," Al-Aqili said in a statement to the agency, adding that "large and dangerous files were referred to the commission that have not been resolved yet."

And he considered that "the investigation by the Integrity Commission of the files referred is very little," calling on the political forces to "take positions in support of reforming the government system."

Earlier today, Thursday, a member of the Parliamentary Regions Committee, Mudhar Al-Karawi, considered the fight against corruption in Iraq as a media issue and that it did not reach the adults, indicating that Iraq is at the forefront of the countries in the world with corruption rates.  LINK

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Samson:  Parliamentary Finance: The Foreign Ministry did not move a finger towards the lost wealth of Iraq

10:45 - 11/02/2021
Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Thamer Theban, confirmed, Thursday, that the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not move a finger towards the disappeared wealth of Iraq, warning of the loss of a wealth estimated at billions of dollars.

Theban said in a statement to / the information /, that "there is no seriousness with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up the file and resolve it," indicating that "Iraq owns real estate and hotels and has tea plantations and button in Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka, the file is still pending without resolution." He added, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not move a finger in following up the file of state real estate outside Iraq," noting that "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s move does not raise the level and importance of the file."

Theban revealed in a previous statement to "the information", the numbers about the size of the funds and the hidden Iraqi real estate outside Iraq, stressing that the value of cash outside Iraq amounts to 87 billion dollars, excluding farms, hotels and real estate.  LINK

Samson:  Integrity Commission: legal mechanisms to recover the stolen money

11th February, 2021

The Integrity Commission confirmed its endeavor to recover the money smuggled abroad, based on legal legislation

The head of the commission, Judge Alaa Jawad Hamid, said, in a televised statement that was followed by Al-Eqtisad News, that “the commission seeks, according to the law, to request assistance within the international anti-corruption convention or to seek assistance from professional companies or negotiate with sovereign neighboring countries to raise the file of extradition of convicts who have acquired their verdicts. The looted money. He stressed "the tendency for professional and specialized companies in this regard," citing "Tunisia's experience in seeking assistance from these companies and was able to recover the stolen money

The Parliamentary Integrity Committee confirmed earlier that some countries refuse to hand over the looted funds to Iraq, while stressing the need for legislation and important agreements to recover these funds

Committee member Alia Nassif said, "Some countries refuse to deliver the stolen money to Iraq, including Arab and European ones," indicating that "we need to legislate important laws and agreements, whether they are bilateral agreements or agreements within international organizations that oblige countries to recover the stolen money

She added that "legislating laws and agreements on recovering stolen money is important between countries," noting that the international community announced the enactment of such laws and she continued, "Iraq will have an effective and important role in those files related to conventions and legislation in cooperation with the Integrity Commission   LINK

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Samson:  The Integrity Commission: Restoring and preventing the waste of more than 1.2 trillion dinars during 2020
11th February, 2021

The Federal Integrity Commission revealed that more than 1.2 trillion dinars will be returned and wasted during 2020

The authority said in its annual report for the year 2020, which was reviewed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "the public funds that were recovered or for which court rulings were issued to return them and which prevented and stopped the commission from being wasted based on its procedures, which were actually returned to the public treasury account, totaling (702,593,974,949) billion dinars) And (481,934,358) million US dollars

The commission clarified that it “worked on (13482) criminal cases in which the number of accused reached (8891) accused, and (12007) charges were charged, among them (63) ministers and of their degree, they were charged (92) charges, and (449) accused of grades Private directors, general managers and those of their rank were charged (701) charges

It pointed to "the issuance of (639) judgments of condemnation (854), including (4) convictions against (4) ministers and those of their rank, and (37) judgments against (29) of those with special ranks, general directors and those of their grade

And it indicated that it "examined (28057) communications, news and criminal cases during the same period, of which (7386) cases were completed through judicial procedures   LINK

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Samson:  Expert: Despite Its Future Importance, The Sovereign Fund Is Absent From The Iraqi Government's Thinking

10th February, 2021

The existence of a political fund is of great importance in supporting the Iraqi economy during crises .. But despite this importance, the issue remained absent from the thinking of the government .. and it remained a forgotten project even though everyone knows its feasibility for the country.

The oil expert and economist Sadiq al-Rikabi told Al-Mustaqillah that the idea of ​​having a sovereign fund for Iraq and benefiting from oil surpluses in establishing it was an idea that had been put forward since the eighties of the last century, but after 2003 everything was done in Iraq on the basis of quotas, including the distribution of ministries thus until The sovereign fund, if established, would be subject to quotas.

He indicated that the political blocs will make this fund a spoil and not a sovereign fund for the Iraqi state, and that these blocs are not convinced that the investment process should be inside Iraq, but rather that there should be an investment process in the first place, because thinking is limited to benefiting as soon as possible, and as high as possible.

Of the funds in favor of financing political parties and economic committees. He emphasized that thinking about investing inside Iraq, or the future of future generations, is far from the thinking of the parties, otherwise the situation will not reach what we are now after the loss of more than a trillion and a hundred billion dollars of Iraq’s money.

Al-Rikabi explained that Iraq today is the only oil country that does not have a sovereign fund, which has become present even in countries with less oil production than Iraq. He noted that a number of Iraq's assets abroad have come under the control of political parties, which benefit from them, and that there is encouragement for some parties that benefit from these funds without returning to the Iraqi state, thus absent from the economic vision of the successive governments to establish such a fund. And if the matter has reached the point of not giving the producing provinces their share of the petrodollars, then how do they think of a sovereign fund for the Iraqi state?

He stressed that if we had the correct thinking, Iraq would be one of the largest countries that possess sovereign funds, expressing his hope that there will be a national and political will to accomplish such a matter, as it brings great benefit to the Iraqi state and the future Iraqi generations, and it will also be a safety fund that preserves Iraqi finance.

Status and restores confidence in the Iraqi market as a market eligible for investment, and a market able to access foreign markets also thus opens many doors and many opportunities for the Iraqi state as a whole, but this unfortunately did not happen in this period.   LINK

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Samson:  In a shocking United Nations statistic, unexploded mines and bombs outnumber the population of Iraq

11th February, 2021

The United Nations estimated the number of uncontrolled projectiles in Iraq at 50 million.

Experts indicate that 1,200 km of the Iraqi-Iranian border area is contaminated with mines and bombs, with the presence of communities threatened due to the possibility of exploding mines and missiles, in addition to the presence of 90 radioactively contaminated areas in the south of the country due to the depleted uranium used by the coalition forces during the invasion of Iraq, along with what He was succeeded by ISIS.

The semi-official Al-Sabah newspaper, in its Thursday edition, quoted the director of the bomb handling department at the Civil Defense Directorate at the Ministry of Interior, Brigadier General Shehab Ahmed Abd, as saying that "the mine and war remnants file is large and large and cannot be completed by a year or two."

He pointed out that "recent United Nations reports estimated the number of military projectiles in Iraq at 50 million projectiles," noting that "the directorate's cadres carried out 567 duties in the provinces during the past year, during which they raised 33 thousand and 333 projectiles."   LINK