The Central Bank receives more than 2,700 reports of money laundering.

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Office of the Central Bank of Iraq received 2,723 reports and requests for information during the first six months of 2025.

Hussein Ali Al-Maqram, the office’s representative at the Central Bank of Iraq, told Al-Sabah: “During the first six months of this year, the office received 2,723 reports and requests for information about transactions suspected of involving proceeds from predicate crimes or related to money laundering or terrorist financing.”

He added, “These reports and requests for information were from the entities obligated to report, whether financial institutions or designated non-financial businesses and professions, and from various entities concerned with implementing Law No. 39 of 2015, within the framework of joint cooperation and coordination to enhance the effectiveness of the National System for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.”

“Terrorism.”

Al-Maqram continued, “The office has notified other regulatory and competent authorities of a number of cases in which it has detected a breach by some financial institutions or non-financial businesses and professions of the provisions of Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law No. (39) of 2015, in light of the analysis of the reports and information received, or through continuous monitoring and follow-up work.” For his part, security expert Fadel Abu Raghif praised the work of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Office, pointing to its clear improvement and development in pursuing suspected sources of funding, whether inside or outside the country.

“This resulted in the introduction of modern methods of prosecution, arrest, issuing international and red notices, and preparing several hundred recovery files,” Abu Raghif added in an interview with Al-Sabah. He explained that “the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law of 2015 was clearly active, as it received thousands of reports, which were met with interaction processes that led to identifying some of those who changed their names and adopted the method of concealment, confusion, and misleading to avoid pursuing these.”

The circle.

He explained, “There are those who have obtained European passports and changed their names, surnames and appearance, but despite this, the office has succeeded in pursuing and greatly reducing these operations, and work is underway to pursue some of the hundreds of those who are hiding, concealing themselves and fortifying themselves in some countries.” The security expert stressed that “there will be no safe haven for them, and they will all be brought to justice through ready and prepared extradition files directed at them.”

Alsabaah.iq