"Tidbits From TNT" Monday AM 12-19-2022

TNT:

Tishwash:  18 deputies call for holding an extraordinary session to discuss the rise in the price of the dollar (document)

A number of deputies demanded, on Monday, to hold an extraordinary session to discuss the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar and its impact on citizens.

According to a document obtained by {Euphrates News} that, "18 deputies called for holding an extraordinary session to discuss the high exchange rate of the dollar and its negative impact on the lives of citizens."   link

Maggie:  I heard the same thing 10 years ago " Better buy it quick, it will RV any day. "

RVAlready:  This is a far different circumstance than 15 years ago. We have a PM who said the RV was his first priority.

Yada:  Agreed rvalready regarding 15 years since comment. The whole time, there had been hinderences to keep it from happening and they've been removed. Government is set, banking internationally has been established, and when it is all said and done, via Bluepay, they will be the hub of converting multiple currencies through their banks.

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Tishwash:  Iraq launches the first electronic platform for trading securities

Today, Monday, the "Carmel" company affiliated with the Iraqi Stock Exchange announced that it had obtained official approvals to grant it the first license to launch the Iraq electronic platform for trading securities.

The company said in a statement that "official approvals have been obtained to grant it the first license to launch the Iraq platform for trading securities, IRAKA trade platform, after the success of all the required technical tests under the supervision of the Iraqi Stock Exchange, as well as the success of the security and cyber examination, which was carried out by KPMG International Auditing Company, And the completion of all the obligations contained in the Internet trading instructions approved by the Securities Commission.

She pointed out that "this project, which we adopted as a service to the investors of the Iraqi Stock Exchange, is considered this type of platform at the present time, and due to the great technological development in the world and the increasing number of users of smart devices. bigger than investors”, indicating that “the IRAKA platform contains wizards for building the trading strategy of the investor, which allows traders to decide from a list of multiple options that can be easily accessed to create a set of orders that may be traded automatically.”

She added, "The IRAKA trading platform (IKTP) is the first trading platform for online trading in Iraq and is licensed by the Iraqi Securities Commission (ISC) and the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX)," stressing that "the only way now is for the customer to submit buy and sell orders in the market." Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) online via a secure platform.

She pointed out that "all types of stocks and bonds listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange can be traded using the IRAKA platform, as IRAKA allows users to make online trading in the Iraq market more accessible and from anywhere in the world and at any time during the day instead of the traditional trading methods that have been adopted." over the past years.”

And she indicated that “the IRAKA platform will broadcast live market prices and through its website, and the user can also use additional trading tools such as chart analysis reports, news feeds, and account management functions,” explaining that “the IRAKA platform (IKTP) will be available on all Windows systems.” And Mac, IOS and Androi".  link

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Tiswhwash:  Who is behind the looting and smuggling of Iraq's money?

Private banks were established in Iraq to be a main supporter of the economic development process, but what happened is the exact opposite, as these banks became a demolition factor for development and corruption became one of the problems that the banking system in Mesopotamia suffers from, in addition to the low level of Services provided by these banks to customers.

Economist Diaa Al-Mohsen explains this, saying, “These banks granted hundreds of millions of dollars to finance projects, and in fact, these funds went into the pockets of the corrupt because most of these projects had no basis in reality, rather they were fake projects.”

He explained that "private banks are a front for political parties and a cover for corruption, and the process of selling foreign currency from the window of the Central Bank of Iraq, which is ongoing in inevitable cooperation with these banks, is only one of these manifestations."

Who protects the smuggled money?

Al-Mohsen explains that what he called “the theft of the century” is a good example of bank corruption, as the value of the stolen amount amounted to more than two billion and 500 million dollars, and government and private banks participated in smuggling it out of Iraq, in addition to the money laundering operations that these banks indulged in, which called for The representative of the US Treasury Department warned 14 commercial banks of the need to improve their financial conditions and monitor the transfers they make for the benefit of clients.

He proposed a solution to the problem, saying, “It is required to restore the external transfer department of the Central Bank of Iraq and notify the correspondent banks (which the external transfer department previously dealt with) in order to resume work again, provided that importers are required to limit their commercial transactions to the Central Bank of Iraq, otherwise they will not be allowed to transfer any amounts in foreign currency.” Abroad".

The economist Bassem Antoine comments on the issue, saying, “Financial and banking corruption has become rampant in Iraq recently, in particular, as a result of the poor follow-up of the regulatory agencies, as it found refuge in some countries that hope that money smuggling will increase to start laundering operations, according to reports received from the Iraqi Integrity Commission, And it is money that is not easy to control due to the weak capabilities of the regulatory agencies in terms of following up on its destination, in addition to the adoption and protection of some politicians for corrupt money smugglers, and most of all, the control agencies are afraid of pursuing the beneficiary parties and personalities.

He adds, “These mafias used methods that are difficult to pursue because they do not deal with official departments or government banks directly. Rather, they use some banks, which were reported to be four important banks that deal with cash liquidity, and they are assisted in this by the currency auction that is not controlled by the responsible authorities.” He points out that “there are houses and treasuries full of Iraqi currency (cash), which constitutes three-quarters of the printed matter outside the banking system, and it is difficult to control it, whether in Iraqi currency or in dollars, knowing that the dollar controls its amount, not the US treasury, not Iraq.”

Antoine indicated that from time to time the dens of these people are raided and penalties are taken against them, and great scandals were announced that were revealed by the Prime Minister, but there are quite a few of them supported by blocs and political parties, and he concluded, “We need the cooperation of citizens and the cessation of the facilities provided by states.” The money is smuggled to it, and there must be efficient and impartial agencies that limit that organized smuggling, as corruption is a major economic terrorism.”

inexperienced positions

Representative Bassem Khashan says that a person who is not specialized in money assumed the presidency of the Central Bank was due to quotas. As for the “Al-Rasheed” and “Al-Rafidian” banks, many complaints were filed against them even before the recent theft crimes, but to no avail or any action was taken against them. . Holding accountable those involved in administrative and financial violations, whether serious or minor, has not been achieved due to the lack of serious investigations in corruption cases.

Khashan reveals that “cases of money smuggling are many and take several patterns, including what is in the form of deposits or property and real estate in some countries.” He calls for the need to reconfigure the oversight bodies, such as the change that took place in the Integrity Commission when Judge Haider Hanoun assumed the presidency of the commission, threatening the corrupt and those behind them in Interview with the press, and he says:

 “We need to develop investigative procedures in the commission and integrity courts to hold all those involved in all crimes accountable, not to attribute the crime to one person, while the number of those involved in it is dozens of people,” expressing his lack of optimism about this government because of what he described as its superficial procedures in dealing with it.

Stressing that it “did not achieve anything, whether in terms of the state’s economic policy or combating corruption, and the past months were disappointing.”

Coin on newsprint

The former head of the Integrity Commission, Musa Faraj, enumerates the reasons that led to the aggravation of the problem that emerged after 2003, saying, “The first is the conditions of corruption and chaos, and the second is the creation of private banks, which we described as shops for corruption and currency smuggling, and the most prominent and unfortunate factor is the role played by the government in excluding an international banker, Sinan Al-Shabibi And replacing him with personalities who dared to include their name on the Iraqi currency in a precedent that the country had not witnessed, in addition to entering the currency auction file, which caused, according to former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the loss of 300 billion dollars from the Iraqi treasury between smuggling and money laundering.

And he adds, "It is no secret to anyone what happened in terms of servitude between government and private banks due to the interference of politicians in government decisions and their dominance over government banks, which have become a channel for stealing money and handing it over to the corrupt and their banks."

As for the roots of this deterioration, Faraj mentions, “It started since the start of the Iran-Iraq war and the stage of the siege, which witnessed the printing of the currency on newspaper paper, and the circulation of a statement by the Governor of the Central Bank, Issam Mulla Huweish, in which he says (we don’t need currency reserves in the first place, because Leader Saddam is the solid support of the Iraqi dinar) ".

For his part, the advisor to the Central Bank of Iraq, Ihsan Shamran al-Yasiri, rules out linking financial and banking corruption in Iraq to some countries. Corruption is often transboundary, as it is born in a country to establish values, money and practices, and then migrates to another by passing corrupt money, and this is typical of money crimes. He added, "Corruption in the banking sector unfortunately exists like any sector, but the Central Bank is now shouldering the burden of combating it through vigorous oversight, and it needs the concerted efforts of all concerned parties to be able to perform its mission."

Iraq has the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Office, which is an important institution that follows up and investigates money laundering and terrorist financing practices, but the persistence and legitimacy of corruption and the infiltration of the corrupt in sensitive institutions in the country are indicators of weak law enforcement, according to Al-Yasiri, who explains how to acquire tax secretariats and large sums, saying, “In In fact, this process cannot be completed without the completion of its management links between the (Tax Secretariats Unit) located in each customs port. It is the first circle that markets the information, receives and completes the forms for the owners of the trusts, and then sends them to the General Authority for Taxes (the financial department). the second".

He continues, “As for the third link, it is the bank that is responsible for being sensitive to the intensity of cash withdrawals of embezzled funds, and that all operations were withdrawn in cash in an urgent manner. And the management of the Rafidain Bank was supposed to be sensitive to its branches, because the density of clouds should arouse the attention of the bank.

And Al-Yasiri continues, “Whoever has trusts in large amounts is better not to withdraw them, but rather transfer them from the tax department’s account, either by check or by a cash payment order, and deposit them in his bank account. Therefore, it is unreasonable for someone to withdraw tax trusts in the hundreds of billions unless he is in a hurry in the withdrawal process for the purpose of smuggling.” funds.”

Major sin and routine episodes

Al-Yasiri mentions that “the theft of the century passed over the shoulders of the oversight apparatus.” And he points out that “a deputy asked to suffice with the audit of the tax department and prevent the Office of Financial Supervision from auditing, with the aim of facilitating the payment of tax secretariats to the beneficiaries. This is a major sin committed by the promoter of this decision, and the biggest mistake falls on the Board of Financial Supervision, which responded to the prohibition order when it had to reject it.

Al-Yasiri justifies, “The Iraqi Financial Supervision Bureau was known for its serious follow-up and audit, but raising its hand from this audit process made it reveal the process late. The bank with bank departments and the Ministry of Finance, the latest of which was the fruitful cooperation between the Governor of the Central Bank and former Finance Minister Ali Allawi, who intervened positively and interacted with the reports of the Central Bank and held emergency meetings on the basis of them between the bank’s leaders and cadres with other banks to discuss the reports.

He explains, “The Central Bank has made great efforts for years to reform the banking sector and improve its performance. We have promising banks that show promise, and some of them are under reform and evaluation. We also have banks that are difficult to reform and do not seek benefit from them, and the Central Bank has taken measures with them, either by managing them or by placing them under guardianship or liquidating them in the event that there is no change in their performance.

For his part, the head of the “Al-Nahrain” Foundation for Transparency and Anti-Corruption, Muhammad Al-Rubaie, confirms that the Iraqi government’s follow-up of the looted funds exhausts a full cycle and revolves in routine circles between several parties and takes a long period of time, and he suggests that the Iraqi government form the Financial Intelligence Unit, through which people are pursued and funds seized. And recover it in a record time, knowing that there are several departments to recover money in independent bodies and ministries, such as the recovery department in the Federal Integrity Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Intelligence Agency.   link

CandyKisses:  SANTA HAS A CHIMNEY PROBLEM

Mot:  ....... the 4 stages of a Mans Life! - Where is You???