"Wednesday Iraq News" Posted by Don961 1-29-2020

KTFA:

Don961:  Source: Saleh gives political blocs until Friday evening, on the candidate of the Prime Minister

2020-01-29 09:44:16 

A well-informed source revealed, on Wednesday, that the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, had given the political blocs until Friday evening about the prime minister's candidate.

The source said, "The President of the Republic, Barham Salih, gave the political blocs until Friday evening to present a non-controversial candidate for prime minister."

"Otherwise, Saleh will assign an independent figure who will accept the street," he added.

 Yesterday, a source close to the President of the Republic denied agreeing to a candidate for prime minister.   LINK

Don961:  A source confirming to NINA, the Sadrists and Al-Fateh agreement that Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi will be nominated to head the next government

Wednesday 29 January 19:31 2020 

Baghdad / Nina / An early source confirmed the arrival of the Sadrists and the Al-Fatah coalition to an agreement on the candidate for the post of prime minister of the next government.

He said in a brief statement to NINA news agency: The Sadrists and the Al-Fateh Alliance agreed this evening to nominate the candidate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi for the post of Prime Minister. / End 3    LINK

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Don961:  Anti-corruption: Iraq’s smuggled money has matched investment budgets since 2003

2020 - 01-28

On Wednesday, the Supreme Council for Combating Corruption estimated the value of the looted funds smuggled from Iraq as parallel to the investment budgets approved since 2003 until now, revealing the willingness of France and the United Arab Emirates to cooperate in recovering these funds.

Observer member Saeed Yassin Mousa said in a press statement, "The council took a huge number of measures, some of which are related to the executive authority and others are related to legislation," noting that "the recent events that took place in the country did not affect the progress of the council's decisions that are still under Follow-up and implementation.

"The council cooperated with the Judicial Council and the Integrity Commission - as the spearhead in combating corruption - through the Prevention and Recovery departments," Moussa said, noting that "procedures are taking place outside Iraq regarding the recovery file, and there are a large number of issues that need an administrative investigation."

Moussa added that "the file of recovering the smuggled money needs a kind of wisdom, wisdom and patience," noting that "the ease of depositing the stolen money in banks outside Iraq creates a great difficulty in recovering it, as some of them may need a period of up to 15 years," setting an example in The state of Algeria "that has experience in recovering its money after it has spent money on legal advice and travel equal to the value of the money stolen from it, but it only wanted to consolidate the state's sovereignty and respect public funds."

Mousa estimated the value of the looted funds, as "being equal to the total investment budgets approved in Iraq since 2003 until now", noting that "Iraq has previously participated in a workshop with seven countries related to the problem of money laundering and smuggling, as it is one of those countries that suffer from the two problems that Their impact The Anti-Money Laundering Law was issued in the Central Bank to meet the international requirements of banks and financial management.

The observer member of the Supreme Council for Combating Corruption pointed to "the presence of Emirati and French cooperation to recover the stolen money from Iraq," adding that "a meeting took place between the Director General of the Recovery Department and the head of the UAE Accounting Bureau at one of the conferences and informed the latter of his country's readiness to cooperate in this matter."

Moussa added: "Officials at the Ministry of Justice met with their counterparts from the UAE side to discuss this file," revealing "serious steps from the French public prosecutor who has expressed his full readiness to help Iraq recover its looted money."   link

Don961:  Abdul Mahdi's advisor: The price of a barrel of oil in the 2020 budget will be close to last year

29/01/2020

 Economy News _ Baghdad

The appearance of Mohamed Saleh, financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Adel Abdel-Mahdi, on Wednesday, it is likely that the price of a barrel of oil approved in the 2020 budget will be close to last year 2019, expecting the budget to mature in the coming weeks

The financial advisor attributed the delay in approving the budget for the current year to "the conditions that the country has experienced recently, and the occurrence of many changes, including spending obligations and government decisions, and decisions of the House of Representatives according to the powers of the relevant authorities, which formed additional financial obligations on the budget, which led to a financial deficit." There is a lot in it, so the cabinet returned it after discussing it to the Ministry of Finance to reconsider some of the spending decisions, and to study some revenues in a way that makes them sustainable

Saleh expected, "The maturity of the budget during the coming weeks, especially as there is consultation, understanding and exchange of ideas and opinions by the concerned authorities, in an attempt to take measures in a way that makes the budget permanent, and enhance resources as much as possible, reduce deficits, and control debts"

He suggested that "the price of the approved barrel of oil in the budget will be close to last year 2019"

He pointed out that "the bodies concerned with preparing the budget work to make the deficit subject to financing and reduction at the same time through alternatives and priorities for spending and projects and presenting the most important on the important and re-arranging the so-called" financial space for the management of resources and the running of the budget, especially there is an expansion of exchange so the budget needs to restore Prepare it in the exchange doors and maximize some non-oil revenues"

He explained, "According to the timing, the budget should have been completed at the end of October of last year," expressing his regret in the event of the end of the fiscal year and then passing the budget to approval, as it will be similar to the year 2014, meaning that the spending under the applicable financial management law will be 1 on 12 of the actual expenditures for the 2019 budget"  LINK

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Don961:  Trump announces tweeting to keep 5,000 US soldiers in Iraq

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 2020 19:43 

Baghdad ( NINA ) - US President Donald Trump announced that 5,000 American soldiers will remain in Iraq.
He said in his tweet today: With regard to the war decision, which will be voted on tomorrow in the House of Representatives, we have reached the presence of 5,000 soldiers there and we will reduce the number.
And Trump added: I want everyone, Republican and Democrat, to vote in their hearts for our country. / End 3    LINK