Special forces secure the outlets completely and forge the central bank bills
Ayna News – Baghdad, President of the Border Ports Authority, Omar Al-Waeli, confirmed on Wednesday that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi personally supervises the plan to secure the ports, which are now all secure, while pointing out that the actual measures to eradicate corruption included recycling of port workers and changing corrupt cadres.
Al-Waeli said, according to government media, that “since he assumed the position of managing the Border Outlets Authority four and a half months ago, he presented a study to the Prime Minister on the reality of the border ports and the corruption and needs that are taking place in the government to solve them,” noting that “among the The proposals submitted to the Prime Minister need for a force to protect the outlets because the existing human resources are insufficient to counter any external aggression by outlaw groups. ”
He added, “The government has responded to this request, and the Prime Minister himself supervised the protection plan for the ports, visited the Mandali border outlet, imposed the prestige of the state and the law, and provided protection to the ports of Munthiriya and Mandali in Diyala, and this is the first step for the government to impose its control on these ports and then go to the seaports in Umm Qasr North, Central, South, Al Khor, Abu Flus and Al-Maqal port. Also, the Naval Force Command and the Basra Operations Command were assigned to provide a force to be present in the seaports, and then the protection force extended to the Al Shayb port in Maysan Governorate and the Safwan and Zarbatiya port in Wasit, indicating that the duty of the protection force is Providing protection for the border outlet as well as tightening control over the portal gates to prevent entry to any unauthorized person, and preventing any person who has not been authorized by the state from carrying out any customs work inside the outlets.
Al-Waeli added that “during the era of the previous government, the Border Ports Authority seized smuggling and violations after an external force managed to storm the port and enter these prohibited materials,” stressing that “all land and sea ports are now fully secured by the Special Forces and the Joint Operations Command”?
He pointed out that “these forces are unstable and in the case of continuous replacement every fifteen days to prevent acquaintance and coordination by officers and ranks,” noting that “the Prime Minister is greatly interested in the border crossing file, and there is a real will to control it to serve the citizens.”
Al-Waeli explained that “the procedures for eliminating corruption in the outlets are not superficial, because they are actual procedures that included recycling the outlets workers and changing the corrupt cadres. (90) officers were returned to the Ministry of the Interior from the affiliates, to eliminate the flabby, corruption, and interference, and they were replaced by cadres from the border outlets and received their tasks.” Calling for “closer control of the security forces to the ports, despite the presence of an outlaw group that the Prime Minister called ghosts and which supports the corrupt employee and will be eliminated, as happened in the Mandali and Munthiriya ports, after seizing prohibited items from importing milk and chicken by a security force from Taking out these goods, investigation committees were formed, officers were punished, imprisoned and tried, and all of this will not happen after the changes that were made under the direction of the Prime Minister because the employee will feel safe and will not repeat thanks to the Special Forces battalion stationed at the gate and a rapid response to address the situation to prevent any abuse.
He pointed out that “there is continuous coordination with the Operations Command around the clock, and three officers from the Authority have been assigned to work in the Joint Operations Command, liaison officers in the operations room, their mission is to communicate around the clock with the outlets and operations command to coordinate and exchange information to succeed the Prime Minister’s plan to impose the prestige of the state “.
He explained, “The procedures included the replacement of all border border managers in addition to their assistants, and a vision was presented to the Prime Minister regarding the application of this approach in the remaining departments operating in the outlets, which includes (15) departments in each outlet and in it are corrupt and righteous employees.”
He stressed that “the Border Ports Authority is the first government institution to change on the basis of integrity and efficiency within four months and after that there is an evaluation, which proves its efficiency remains or is replaced by another,” noting that “a study was presented to rotate all workers but it needs time with that has been started With the change in the most important departments and the rest gradually gradually, and a group of customs was recently replaced and all this change will have a great positive return on the country. ”
The Head of the Ports Authority revealed a plan to link the ports in the Kurdistan region to the federal outlets, stressing that there are eleven outlets in the Kurdistan region, of which only six are officially recognized from Baghdad and there are five informal outlets, explaining that “there is a real plan for connecting the ports in the region With outlets in the federal government soon. ”
He added that “there is a decision No. (13) for the year 2019, as the second paragraph of it stipulated that all the ports of the region should be linked to the federal ports, but so far it has not been implemented, and we have not reached any solution during the many discussions and meetings for more than a year,” noting that ” During the recent delegation’s visit to Baghdad to solve the problem of salaries, the issue of outlets was discussed and the delegation stated that any decision taken by the federal government must be presented to the Kurdistan Parliament for approval, and the delegation was asked to expedite the resolution of this issue.
Al-Waeli pointed out that “the prime minister’s vision is to tighten control over the federal ports and then go to the ports file in the region,” stressing that “the Ports Authority does not want to enter into a dispute with the region and seeks to solve this file through meetings and exchange of visions and in the event that it is not done Finding a solution, there will be other alternatives such as returning customs points or placing specialized authorities in the field of customs and customs and organized crime on the way to the main entrances to Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala in order to impose fees on incoming goods.
Al-Waeli called for “the necessity of working on one agricultural calendar to ensure that the prohibited items from the region do not enter the rest of the provinces.”
Al-Waeli pointed out that “after the Corona crisis, most of the border ports with Iran and Kuwait were closed and only Trebil, Al-Qaim and the important seaports remained at seven outlets, and two important points were achieved. And food, that is, without fees, “noting that” this measure affected revenues and there are customs exemptions on some items. ”
He explained that “the Supreme Committee for National Safety issued several decisions, including the issue of airports, and stipulated that protection methods should be followed to prevent corona infection,” noting that the decision to open airports came in the wake of the urgent need of the citizen, which led to the establishment of a mechanism to tighten the entry, exit and return of travelers.
Al-Waeli stressed that “movement was carried out on the eastern outlets of the country first for the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in Iran, so the ban on it then came from the outlets of the region and with Kuwait as well, unlike what happened in Syria and Jordan, and secondly is the subject of abuse that was occurring in these outlets more than others.” He pointed out that “Trebil’s port with Jordan is stable and generates high revenues. As for Syria, there are three outlets which are Rabia, Al-Qa’im and Al-Walid, two of them are suspended from work due to terrorism, only the existing one works and the exchange volume is weak.”
He noted that “the Safwan outlet is closed until now for the information that the work has been resumed from the twenty-third of this month, but it has not been officially opened and there is no commercial exchange because the corresponding Abdali outlet in Kuwait is closed,” stressing that “the outlets with Iran opened two days a week.” .
Al-Waeli stated that “the commission deals with all the outlets and with all the neighboring countries with a single standard and there is no difference between them, and the prime minister sent a delegation ten days ago headed by the Minister of Finance,” explaining that “among the important topics discussed is the opening of the Arar outlet with Saudi Arabia and Preparing all requirements in terms of the operating departments, all of them are present, and most of the preparations have been completed, “noting that” eighty-five percent of the passenger line with the Saudi side has been accomplished with a Saudi grant, but the work was stopped due to the Corona pandemic and the Saudi side asked to resume work and see the needs, there is a will It is real to open this outlet and the joint operations command was contacted, which confirmed that the road is completely secure. ”
He pointed out that “all meetings concerning the joint ports with Kuwait indicated that the Kuwaiti side allocated a grant to build the Safwan border port and requested that the land and the required plans be allocated,” explaining that “the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers sent a letter to Basra Governorate and the General Secretariat to prepare requirements with the Kuwaiti side and start to The construction of this port in record time and on high specifications of sophistication and sophistication. ”
Al-Waeli stressed that “there are procedures to protect the product in all outlets and that an important meeting with the National Security and all leaders was conducted and its focus was how to protect the national product by preventing the entry of some materials and it was agreed upon decisions that will be issued soon that will limit their entry, stressing that” there is seriousness and will to protect The national product and no one will be allowed to tamper with public money. ”
Al-Waeli pointed out that “the volume of revenue and since the beginning of this year until now has reached five hundred and thirty-seven billion dinars,” noting that “in 2018 revenue in sixteen border outlets reached one trillion, one hundred and eighty seven billion, two hundred and seventy-seven million dinars.”
He continued that “the revenues achieved in 2019 amounted to one trillion two hundred and forty three billion and eighty four million dinars in seventeen outlets,” noting that “it is always repeated in the media that the outlets are supposed to earn ten billion dollars compared to what is paid from the bills to the central bank and it must be Noting that most merchants who take bills from the central bank do not deal with them in the right way, such as the merchant withdrawing a billion dollars to import electrical and home appliances while in fact he imports cheap materials such as paper towels by one hundred million and the rest uses it for other things, and there is forgery of documents and bills and the matter does not return For the authority of the ports, but to the Central Bank and other parties, but there is a determination to tighten control and achieve higher revenues.