The Finance Committee is likely to launch the implementation of the budget law tomorrow

Shafaq News / The Parliamentary Finance Committee ruled out, on Monday, the impact of the Iraqi government’s appeals on articles of the general budget law in the continuation of the law, suggesting that the implementation of its articles will start from tomorrow.

Committee member, Representative Jamal Koujar told Shafaq News agency, “The appeals submitted by the government against articles and paragraphs of the budget law are the ones that stop, not the budget law.”

Cougar suggested that the cabinet session tomorrow, Tuesday, would be the beginning of the launch, and the implementation of the budget law in ministries and state institutions.

Cougar stressed that the Ministry of Finance should be ready to implement the budget law, and we do not know the reasons for the delay in implementing the law.

On the third of July, the head of the federal government, Muhammad al-Sudani, submitted an appeal to the Federal Supreme Court against a number of paragraphs of the budget law, with a request to the court to issue a (state order) to stop the implementation of these articles after the law entered into force until the court decided to challenge the constitutionality of these articles.

On June 12, the Iraqi parliament voted on the financial budget for the three years (2023-2024-2025), with a value of 198.9 trillion Iraqi dinars ($153 billion) for each year.

Shafaq.com

“Wholesale corruption” in the Rafidain Bank

Shafaq News / An informed source revealed the reasons for withdrawing the hand of the Director General of the Governmental Rafidain Bank and a number of department managers and bank employees by the Ministry of Finance.

The source told Shafaq News agency, “The current management of Al-Rafidain Bank, which has been withdrawn, is accused of several cases, including causing waste of public money and mismanagement, and making administrative transfers on the basis of nepotism and nepotism away from the standard of competence and integrity, and the rise of unqualified people to assume administrative positions.”

The source also attributed the reasons for withdrawing the hand to “the delay in completing customer transactions and using the position to achieve partisan and personal goals and objectives in order to stay in the position for a longer period and challenge the ministry’s decisions.”

The source pointed out that “the dollar case is the most prominent file in financial corruption cases, as preliminary investigations revealed that the current administration, along with some department managers and employees of the bank, embezzled large sums of dollars during the process of selling the currency.”

The source pointed out that “there is an important issue, which is the sale of gold bullion, which is no different from its predecessors in terms of corruption in the dollar file,” explaining that “new names of defendants will be issued in several cases soon.”

The source explained that “the recommendations of the investigation committee, which will be announced soon, will include directing penalties to all the accused, transferring them outside the bank, and appointing a new general manager who is characterized by professionalism, integrity and efficiency.”

And yesterday, Sunday, the Minister of Finance, Taif Sami, decided to withdraw the hand of the director of the Rafidain Bank and more than 20 officials, male and female, and employees. According to a document signed by the minister, seen by Shafak News Agency, “Based on the provisions of Article 17 of the Law on Disciplining State and Public Sector Employees No. 14 of 1991 as amended, and based on what came in the initial report of the subcommittee No. 1927, which was duly approved and the powers vested in us, it was decided to withdraw the hand of Those whose names are listed below are employees of Al-Rafidain Bank from the job for a period of 60 days, starting from the above date.

The names included the general manager of the bank, Ali Karim Hussein, the former director of the risk management department, Anmar Abdel-Razzaq, the former director of the human resources department, Sana Mazyad Nasser, the former director of the information technology department, Ahmed Falah Rashid, the assistant chief craftsman Habib Ahmed Habib, and the treasurer Azhar Akram Ahmed.

As well as employees Mortada Hashem Falhi, Ban Abdul Ali Ibrahim, Zulfiqar Jabbar Faisal, Ali Abbas Nuri, Youssef Aidan Balm, Haider Abdul Hussein, Mustafa Ali Mahmoud, Issam Hassan Ali, Osama Hammad Abdul, Ahmed Sabah Abdul Wahhab, Mustafa Haider Sahib, and Salman Basil Salman, Mustafa Jamal Sadiq, Karim Adel Karim, and Janan Zamil Zboun. The order also included “the payment of half their salaries to them throughout the withdrawal period.”

Shafaq.com

Parliamentary accusations are chasing America: it is trying to thwart the government through the electricity and dollar files

Information / special… Today, a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Karim, accused the United States of America of the electricity crisis, while stressing that Washington is trying to thwart the government through behind the crises.

In an interview with Al-Maalouma agency, Karim said, “America is trying to blackmail the Iraqi government with many files, most notably the dollar, Iranian gas, and the interventions of its ambassador in Baghdad,” noting that “Washington has different crises in Iraq, to ​​try to thwart the government.”

He added, “The United States is the one who imposed gas electric stations on Iraq, in order to try to keep the country in constant need of them,” pointing out that the latter “failed in the agreement to exclude Iraq from importing Iranian gas.”

The member of the House of Representatives explained, “The Iraqi government has taken actual steps to invest in associated gas to reduce the import and achieve self-sufficiency,” accusing the Washington administration of “disavowing all the solutions provided by Iraq to pay dues for Iranian gas.”

And Karim said, “America thwarted Iraq’s contracts with international companies to invest in associated gas.”

Earlier, a member of the House of Representatives, Hussein Al-Sabri, pointed out to America the exacerbation of the electricity crisis in Iraq, and regarding the current crisis as a “great disappointment” for the Iraqi people.

With Iraq entering the height of the summer season in the current month of July, and the rise in temperatures exceeding half the boiling point, the electricity crisis was renewed due to the continuous outages and the failure to supply the regions of the country with energy.

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Anbar Alliance: Al-Sudani rejected Al-Halbousi’s request to stop pursuing his corrupt followers

Information / Baghdad… The leader of the Unified Anbar Alliance, Muhammad Al-Fahdawi, confirmed, on Monday, that the goal of Parliament Speaker Muhammad Al-Halbousi’s visit to the Sudanese Prime Minister is related to mediating to stop the integrity measures that affected the corrupt in Anbar Governorate.

Al-Fahdawi said in a statement to Al-Maalouma, “Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’a Al-Sudani will not submit to or be affected by the demands of Parliament Speaker Muhammad Al-Halbousi regarding stopping procedures against corrupt followers in Anbar Governorate.”

He added, “The goal of Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi’s visit to Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani is related to mediation to stop the integrity measures against his corrupt followers in the Taqaddam Party.”

He pointed out that “the Anbaris have full confidence in the procedures of the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’a al-Sudani, after including other people in the investigation of cases of corruption and waste of money.”

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Muhammad al-Halbousi, had paid a visit the day before yesterday, Saturday, to the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, after the measures taken by the Integrity Commission to arrest personalities affiliated with a party that came forward for their involvement in corruption files, as well as coincided with the security and administrative changes in Anbar Governorate.

Almaalomah.me

Iraq proposes to Iran to deal in dinars instead of dollars

The commercial adviser to the Iranian embassy in Iraq said that Baghdad had proposed to Tehran to deal in dinars instead of dollars, in order to relieve pressure from the US treasury on the Iraqi side.

Abdul Amir Rabihawi explained, on Tuesday, at the meeting of the Iranian-Iraqi Joint Chamber, that pressure from the US Treasury prevents Iraq from using its official currency to transfer money to Iran, which forces it to use the free market currency, which differs by 10% from the official currency and harms Iranian merchants, according to the website. Jahan Sanat News .

He added, “Iraq suggested that all our financial dealings in Iraq be in dinars. Even Turkish shops buy and sell in dinars in this country. Given the sanctions, this issue is in Iran’s favor. Accordingly, we offered the Central Bank of Iran that Iranian businessmen and merchants trade in dinars instead of dollar.”
He added that it was decided to establish 5 industrial cities on the Iranian-Iraqi border.

Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Majid Chakni confirmed a few days ago that Iraq had paid all dues for Iranian gas despite difficulties in transferring money to Iran.

“The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity has paid all its debts incurred by the export of Iranian gas,” said Chakni, according to what was quoted by the Shana news agency affiliated with the Iranian Oil Ministry.

“The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity has paid all our claims related to gas and these debts are now zero, but sometimes there are problems transferring money from Iraq to Iran,” he added.

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An economist explains the mechanisms of reducing the gap between the official and commercial dollar price

Information / Baghdad… The economist, Safwan Qusai, explained, on Wednesday, the mechanisms for reducing the gap between the official dollar exchange rate and the one sold in the parallel market, pointing out the possibility of taking many measures and decisions by the government to ensure control over the exchange rate.

Qusai told Al-Maalouma, “The banking companies have an appropriate commission for the purchase and resale process, and they are supposed to adhere to such a commission, as the process of having a financial policy complementary to the policy of the Central Bank in order to control the price of the dollar in the parallel market requires a set of steps.” .

He added, “The steps would control the border crossings to reduce the volume of imports without external remittances, and urge Iraqi banks to shift towards documentary credits in a flexible manner that allows merchants to deal with suppliers from the white list.”

Safwan pointed out that “there are long-term contracts with them to allow import operations at times commensurate with the volume of local consumption.”

And that “the government can take more measures and decisions, in order to put pressure on the dollar in the parallel market, not only through censorship, but also by supporting the Iraqi dinar.”

Almaalomah.me

Parliamentary efforts to legislate a law that will soon end the disputes between Baghdad and Erbil

Information / Baghdad… The Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee revealed, on Wednesday, that the oil and gas law will be put forward during the next legislative term, considering its passage as a solution to all disputes between Baghdad and Erbil.

“The oil and gas law is one of the important laws that falls within the government’s priorities,” said committee member Bassem Al-Gharibawi, in an interview with Al-Maalouma agency. He suggested that “the law will be presented during the new legislative term.”

Al-Gharibawi added, “There is an intention among all political parties to proceed with enacting the law to regulate the process of oil, gas and natural resources and share their revenues.”

He pointed out that “the legislation of the law will end the differences between the federal government of Baghdad and the regional government and will regulate the oil and financial relationship between the provinces and districts and between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government.”

The representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Nermin Maarouf, had revealed the formation of a joint committee between the Baghdad and Erbil governments to prepare a draft oil and gas law.

Almaalomah.me

The Iraqi parliament will resume its sessions next week

Shafaq News / On the thirteenth of July, the Iraqi Parliament will resume its regular sessions, after the end of its legislative recess.

The representative of the State of Law, Firas Al-Maslamawi, told Shafaq News agency, that the legislative recess for the parliament began after the approval of the general budget law for the Iraqi state, and ends on the 13th of this month.

He added: It is expected that the House of Representatives will resume its sessions at the end of next week, and there is no legal problem or violation of the rules of procedure regarding the convening of the new legislative term days after the end of the legislative recess.

And the House of Representatives voted at dawn on Monday, the twelfth of this June, on the general federal budget law, “with three years 2023, 2024, 2025″ for the Iraqi state, after discussions inside the dome of Parliament that lasted for five days.

The value of the current year budget is 197 trillion and 828 billion Iraqi dinars (about 152.2 billion dollars), with a total deficit of 63 trillion dinars (48.3 billion dollars).

Shafaq.com

The future of the federal budget after challenging the government with some paragraphs

The federal budget is one of the important tools of any government in most countries, and it is considered one of the manifestations of sovereignty and it is the national, moral and professional duty to ensure that it is prepared and implemented with the quality that expresses the will and seriousness in achieving goals and objectives, and some believed that the demise of totalitarian rule would open the way fully for producing budgets that compensate the people for the deprivation they suffered In it, the resources and wealth of the people are used correctly, and this was not witnessed by the country for the years that followed 2005.

The federal budgets witnessed the same errors, whether related to delay in preparation or containing a deficit that turns into a surplus later on and the adoption of reproduction of its components or in the weakness of the actual goals that it achieves or in the disappearance of a number Years and descriptions in this regard are long, and some expected that the 2023 budget would differ from its predecessors in order to be in line with the government program, which contained many promises to make it the beginning of hope that it would be away from delay every year, being the basis that will be approved for three years (2023, 2024, 2024).

However, its beginnings I mentioned many notes, which gave the impression that it will not be at the level that fulfills the wishes, and the features of that began to appear in the stages of its preparation, which I mentioned several attempts to politicize, and despite the attempts of the government and the Finance Committee to preserve the unity of the budget and make it compatible with the needs and the government program, only Some things got out of control when voting on its paragraphs, which lasted for hours, most of which were in the evening and extended until dawn for several days, and although the discussion and voting sessions were not reported by the media as it is supposed to, the audience got acquainted with many details through leaks in the media and the means Social communication, and before and during the House of Representatives’ vote on its paragraphs, which witnessed (bazaar) in addition, deletion, and amendment. The possibility of adding to the total (explosive) expenditures, which amounted to 199 trillion dinars.

And based on the powers stipulated in the constitution and in view of the publication of the Federal Budget Law in the Iraqi Gazette, Issue 4726 on June 26, 2023, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers submitted an appeal to the Federal Court within the period specified for the appeal, in which it indicated that the House of Representatives had included, amended and added articles and paragraphs in the draft budget law that it submitted The government, which constitutes a constitutional violation in both formal and substantive terms, as well as a violation of what the constitutional judiciary has settled in Iraq. The appeal included ten issues mentioned in 12 paragraphs of the law, and the presidency demanded that a royal order be issued to stop the implementation of what was included in those articles until the lawsuit is resolved and the ruling is unconstitutional and the invalidation of these articles.

The Federal Court announced that it had received the appeal and accepted it and referred it to the Presidency of the Council of Representatives to answer it within the legal period, and the matters that were appealed object to (granting the governors the power to sell land to the citizen after developing it, the formula approved in managing the affairs of those who hold the rank of general manager) formation is not managed by making it the prerogative of the Council of Ministers without the need to submit a personal request. The powers granted to the compensation sub-committees whose value does not exceed 50 million dinars, to collect deductions from employees and retirees at a rate of one per thousand dinars for the benefit of the Martyrs Fund of the Ministry of the Interior, granting the exception to the Council Representatives in appointing 150 individuals from the paragraph that required stopping appointments, excluding the Supreme Judicial Council and the Federal Government Court from the paragraph stopping appointments, granting university councils the power to contract with the private sector for a partnership contract in the field of building hospitals and investment laboratories, amending the allocated paragraph by adding additional allocations for work arms, obliging the government By ending the management of state institutions by proxy no later than the end of next November, allocating a percentage of the amounts collected by the enforcement departments for debts and distributing incentives to workers, amending the date approved by Cabinet Resolution 315).

It is expected that the Federal Court will issue the state order to stop the implementation of these articles based on the detailed justifications provided by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and that the issuance of the order will stop the work of all that has been challenged until the issue is resolved after the House of Representatives presents its defenses in this regard, and from a logical and legal point of view, subjecting these Paragraphs to appeal The implementation of the paragraphs and other articles contained in the Federal Budget Law 2023 should not be hindered, unless appeals are received later.

The important question is, is it possible for other parties to submit an appeal to articles and paragraphs of the law? And the answer is that it is possible according to the constitution. It is the right of the parties (and not the individuals) who are affected or who find a violation of the constitution to appeal to the Federal Court with all the provisions of the federal budget within the period allotted for appeal of 30 days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette, and according to what is being circulated, there are intentions of the administration Kurdistan Region to challenge some of the articles and paragraphs that you see as abuses In response to the paragraphs that were overturned in the 2023 budget!! .

Almaalomah.me

Correcting the course of Parliament depends on removing Al-Halbousi from the presidency

Information / Baghdad… Independent MP Bassem Khashan confirmed, on Tuesday, that Muhammad al-Halbousi continues to control the House of Representatives and take strange decisions within the House, pointing out that correcting the course of Parliament requires his removal from office.

Khashan told Al-Maalouma, “The Speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, controls the parliament in a strange manner and continues to violate the constitution, especially since he passed laws before a quorum was achieved under the dome of the parliament.”

He added, “There are lawsuits that have been filed against al-Halbousi before the competent courts after he violated the law and the constitution in some laws that were put forward for voting within the parliament, one of which is the election law, in addition to the fraud he practiced with the aim of dismissing one of the representatives.”

And he indicated that “the coming days may witness the dismissal of Al-Halbousi from the House of Representatives, especially since this character committed many violations.”

He pointed out that “it has become imperative for the political blocs to protect the House of Representatives from such a figure, as correcting the course is by moving towards impeachment.”

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