"Tidbits From TNT" Tuesday 1-23-2024

TNT:

CandyKisses:  US Treasury imposes sanctions on Iraqi figures for supporting Iran

Mawazine News – Baghdad

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday included the head of the parliamentary rights movement, Rep. Hussein Monis, on the sanctions list.

Sanctions included PMF leader Salah al-Maksoosi, as well as Fly Baghdad Air.

The U.S. Treasury Department, at the end of last year, imposed sanctions on the Secretary-General of the Sayyid al-Shada Brigades Abu Al-Al-Wali and a number of PMF leaders.

CandyKisses:  Advisor to the Prime Minister: Agreement with Turkey to build a bridge linking the two countries

Baghdad - Iraq Today:

Advisor to the Prime Minister for Transport Nasser Saleh Al-Asadi announced the completion of 600 km within the preliminary design of the development road, and while stressing that the initial designs of the road are nearing completion, he referred to the agreement with Turkey to build a bridge linking the two countries.

"We have reached very advanced stages on the development road, as we held a meeting two days ago in Turkey on the project and discussed the idea of operation," al-Asadi said, noting that "there are agreements between the project management and the provinces to end the conflicts that hinder work."

He added that "what remained is a small distance in northern Iraq and part in Basra, due to the presence of remnants of war and some obstacles that hinder the access of soil testing companies to the region," pointing to "the completion of more than 600 km within the initial design of the development road."

"We are in the stage of developing the technical specifications of the project," he said, pointing out that "there are agreements with Turkey on the construction of a bridge linking Turkey and Iraq with a length of approximately 2,000 meters."

He stressed that "the establishment of the development road is divided into two parts: the first is economic strategic planning, and the second is technical engineering, in which we have achieved very advanced stages, and we have terminated the contract with the company (Oliver Y Man), which will develop the financial and economic idea and the economic model for this project."

He stressed that "the initial designs are nearing completion and the design review remains from the specialized consultant and then announced as a global (tender) to participate in," pointing out that "the project includes sectors in each governorate, and we are now studying where work will begin and whether it starts from the port of Faw upwards."

"The train track for the development road will start from south to north, and the land road will start from north to south, to be completed in the same period of time," he said.

He pointed out that "the Turkish position is very wonderful and they are key partners in the project and have road and railway designs that will connect to Europe, whether east or west."

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Tishwash:  Financial fraud

Due to the difficult and complex economic challenges and conditions that the government and the Central Bank faced in 2023 due to the fluctuation in the exchange rates of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar and the instructions, facilities, controls and packages issued by the Central Bank to provide cash dollars to travelers and students outside Iraq and to small merchants who do not enter the electronic platform.

A number of cases of financial fraud have been identified by bringing in and taking out money across the Iraqi border and exploiting this in currency counterfeiting and money laundering operations, which falls within the category of financial crimes prosecuted by Iraqi law.

Therefore, the Central Bank announced that it is currently carrying out and urging banks to also carry out a wide media and advertising campaign to warn Citizens are aware of the danger of practicing these actions in violation of instructions and the extent of their impact on harming the national economy.

Here we would like to clarify the development of the methods and practices of people and companies involved in financial crimes, or so-called economic crimes, in most countries of the world, which can be identified as money laundering crimes, electronic payment crimes, currency counterfeiting, securities forgery, and other financial fraud crimes. 

Government agencies, judicial and supervisory bodies have amended their applicable laws and developed procedural and electronic means to reduce these crimes in order to preserve their funds and the national economy.

 Iraq, like other countries, has activated its economic and legislative bodies and institutions in combating these crimes, as it issued the Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 39 of 2015, which included 12 chapters and articles that specified the crimes covered by the law and the penalties for each financial crime.

It also adheres to the international standards that limit money laundering issued by the FATF, in addition to the crimes of counterfeiting, forgery and fraud stipulated in the Iraqi Penal Code and the instructions issued by the Financial Authority and the Monetary Authority represented by the Central Bank of Iraq and the Ministry of Finance to combat these crimes with the aim of preserving Iraq’s money, especially its currency. Foreign countries, due to the impact of these crimes on the national economy, creating stifling economic and financial crises for it, and the impact of this on sustainable development. 

What is dangerous is the failure of financial and banking institutions to adhere to compliance rules, which means that they are exposed to financial and legal risks, the most important of which is reputational risks that directly affect Iraq’s international economic, financial, and banking transactions, which affect Iraq’s foreign economic relations with countries of the world, especially the financial and banking transactions of Arab and foreign correspondent banks. But laws alone and internal judicial procedures alone cannot combat these financial crimes, which requires developing local and international proactive control methods by adopting mechanisms and policies regulated by international agreements to cooperate in reducing financial crimes related to money laundering, terrorist financing, and electronic financial crimes related to electronic payment operations and reaching the final beneficiary. .

Training and qualifying supervisory and technical personnel specialized in the subject of money laundering and applying international standards in this field has become an imperative. Therefore, we propose that the Central Bank of Iraq, the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, and the Iraqi judiciary organize specialized qualification and training courses similar to the courses that were held in the years 2017 and 2018 inside and outside Iraq. Participate in Banking and judicial cadres join together to exchange experiences and cooperate with each other to reduce financial and economic crimes.  link

Mot:  ... the True ""Gotcha"" !!!

Mot:  the Life they Lead!!! --- LOL