The theft of the century brings down big heads… and warnings against entering the culture of deals

Instead of the television interview broadcast by Al Sharqiya channel with the first accused in the theft of the century, Nour Zuhair, being a starting point for whitewashing his black page, its results were counterproductive for him, and by rearranging the papers of this case that was raised again and forcefully.

MP Mustafa Sand announced that the Anti-Corruption Criminal Court issued an order to arrest Nour Zuhair, who appeared in photos injured in a fabricated traffic accident in Lebanon.

It seems that this issue will take on other dimensions, especially after the great pressures on the government, which did not reveal all the facts and secrets of this important issue, which consumed about three billion US dollars from the Iraqi people’s money.

Zuhair and a number of figures were arrested in the theft of the century, before he and the others were released after they returned part of the theft money.

The case was reinvestigated after an arrest warrant was issued for Nour Zuhair and former MP Haitham al-Jubouri.

Informed sources reported today, Tuesday, that the investigation into the theft of the century may involve media professionals in the investigation.

The sources, who refused to reveal their identity, told Al-Maalouma Agency that “a number of media figures’ names were put forward in this case and may be drawn into the investigation.”

But the sources refused to reveal the names of the journalists.

The sources revealed that pressures were placed on the government, which prompted it to review the file completely and to review the names accused of involvement in this theft.

She added, “Among the names reviewed is former MP Haitham Al-Jubouri, against whom the court issued a decision to arrest him again.”

She added, “The file is currently at the forefront of the federal government’s attention, indicating that former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi is involved in the file and possesses many of its secrets.”

The sources did not rule out “the possibility of other new figures slipping into the picture, other than the figures whose involvement in the theft was announced.”

The secrets of the theft of tax trust funds and the figures involved in it were revealed day after day, at a time when fingers of accusation point to the involvement of officials of the previous government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and this was confirmed by the head of the Federal Integrity Commission, Haider Hanoun, recently, when he drew red lines around four major figures.

It is noteworthy that Nour Zuhair’s trial was postponed to 27/8, due to the defendant’s failure to appear before the court under the pretext of traveling outside Iraq, in addition to his appearance in a previous televised interview in which he spoke boldly that he would expose major figures involved in this matter.

The leader of the Fatah Alliance, member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Moeen Al-Kazemi, stressed today, Tuesday, the necessity for the government to activate its contacts with Interpol to extradite the persons accused of stealing the century, indicating at the same time that he was not aware of the presence of former MP Haitham Al-Jubouri inside or outside Iraq.

It is noteworthy that Al-Jubouri is one of the people accused in this case, as he was arrested on November 30, 2022, when he was holding the position of financial advisor to former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi. Al-Jubouri was released at the time after his wife returned an amount of four billion to the state treasury.

Al-Kadhimi told Al-Maalouma Agency, “We do not have information whether Al-Jubouri is inside or outside Iraq, stressing that the arrest warrant against him was issued by the Criminal Court, calling on the government to activate its role with Interpol because the crime has become international and is related to money laundering.”

He also called on the countries in which the suspects in the theft of the century are located to “cooperate with Iraq to extradite them and try them inside Iraq.”

Al-Kadhimi considered that “the reported incident of the accused in the crime of theft of the century, Nour Zuhair, in Beirut, was fabricated to escape the trial, contrary to what the accused claimed on a satellite channel regarding his readiness to attend the case’s pleadings.”

The previous arrest warrant against Haitham Al-Jubouri came as a result of investigations and inquiries into his funds conducted by the Prevention Department of the Federal Integrity Commission, into the values ​​of real estate and vehicles, and the quantities of gold belonging to him, in addition to loans and his salary as an advisor to the Prime Minister at the time.

At that time, the department concluded that there was an inflation in his funds estimated at sixteen billion, one hundred and fifty-seven million, and two hundred and ninety-one thousand dinars.

It is noteworthy that Article (19/Second) of the Integrity and Illicit Gains Commission Law No. (30 of 2011) as amended included imposing a prison sentence of no less than seven years and a fine equal to the value of the illicit gain on every person charged with the crime mentioned in Article (16/First) of the law who fails to prove a legitimate reason for the significant increase in his money or the money of his wife or children, provided that those convicted shall not be released except after paying the fine and returning the value of the illicit gain.

For his part, MP Ali Nehme raised legitimate questions about Nour Zuhair’s file.

“Nour Zuhair is accused according to the law of involvement in stealing huge sums of money and he was arrested and paid some of it to the state treasury according to government data, wondering how he was allowed to leave prison,” Nehme told Al-Maalouma Agency.
He added that “the investigation results of the theft of the century have not yet been announced to the public, stressing the need to clarify who supported the accused and was involved with him in order to clarify the truth of what happened and what is the fate of the money estimated at about 3 billion dollars.”
He pointed out that “the accused of stealing public funds must remain behind bars and their travel outside the country means the possibility of escaping punishment, stressing that Nour Zuhair’s file carries many question marks that must be answered and clarifying what are the reasons that led to letting him travel despite the fact that he is accused of serious cases.”
National figures warned against this theft entering into the culture of deals to release some of the accused.

Almaalomah.me

MP: The House of Representatives presidency will be decided soon

Member of Parliament, Mudar Maan, confirmed today, Tuesday, that the decision on the presidency of the Parliament will not take long this time.

Maan said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, “The Sunni forces, including Sovereignty, are moving forward in order to end the problem of the presidency of the House of Representatives, which is to present a roadmap more than a week ago.”

He added that “the decision on the presidency of the House of Representatives will not take long this time in light of the political understandings with other forces in order to set a decisive session to choose a president for the House according to a national vision.”

He pointed out that “the atmosphere is all heading towards a decision,” expecting that a session will be held within a short period that will not take more than a few weeks, according to the readings.

It is noteworthy that the differences between Sunni-Sunni forces have not resolved the appointment of a Speaker of the House of Representatives for many months.

Almaalomah.me

Global statistics reveal the value of Iraq’s imports and exports in 2023

The German company “Statista”, which specializes in market and consumer data in the world, revealed Iraq’s exports and imports for the year 2023.

The company said in a schedule seen by Shafaq News Agency, “Iraq exported goods worth about 115.95 billion US dollars to various countries last year, 2023.”

She added, “Iraq imported goods worth $95.53 billion during the past year 2023.”

She pointed out that “the trade balance for the year 2023 was in favor of Iraq, as Iraq’s trade surplus amounted to $20.42 billion.”

She explained that “the most important export partner countries were China with 26%, followed by India with 24%, then South Korea with 9%, then the United States with 8%. As for the most important import partner countries, China was with 28%, followed by Turkey with 21%, then the Emirates with 19%.”

Shafaq.com

Al-Bazouni: Developing the military industry will provide huge amounts of money to the treasury

The leader of the State of Law Coalition, Sabah Al-Bazouni, considered “Thursday, the government’s move towards developing military industries as a step in the right direction and has positive repercussions in supporting our security forces, in addition to providing large sums of money to the state treasury.

Al-Bazouni said in a statement to / Al-Maalouma / agency, that “Iraq has a lot of local expertise in the field of military manufacturing and the government’s move towards developing this sector is important and necessary because it will contribute to developing and sustaining our armed forces in all their types and forms with the necessary weapons.”
He added that “manufacturing weapons inside the country will provide a lot of money in hard currency to the state treasury,” noting that “activating military factories will provide more than 70% of the needs of the armed forces, in addition to providing tens of thousands of job opportunities.”

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani stressed during his inauguration of a number of weapons and ammunition factories that military manufacturing is one of the most important requirements for achieving sovereignty in the country and today we are establishing a military industry that secures our sovereignty, as well as contributes to securing the requirements of the security services.

Almaalomah.me

State of Law: America requested to stop negotiations to end the presence of its forces

Member of the State of Law Coalition, Saad Al-Mutalibi, revealed today, Thursday, that America asked its allies in Iraq to stop the work of the committees regarding ending the American presence in Iraq.

Al-Mutalibi said in a statement to /Al-Maalouma/ Agency, that “the recent events in the region and the Iranian response to Israel after the assassination of the resistance leaders called on America to be present for a longer period to protect or limit the attack on its spoiled son Netanyahu,” noting that “the Americans’ presence portends a war inside Iraq between the resistance factions and the American bases.”

He continued, “The Iraqi government must work to accelerate the work of the joint committees in order to remove the danger from Iraqi lands and avoid the destruction of the Iraqis,” noting that “the American presence in Iraq has always been a source of danger, whether by creating terrorist cells or its problems with neighboring countries.”
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously announced the suspension of Iraqi-American negotiations, in a decision that surprised all political circles.

Almaalomah.me

Al-Mandlawi comments on adding 8 trillion dinars to 2024 budget tables

Al-Mandlawi comments on adding 8 trillion dinars to 2024 budget tablesShafaq News/ Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, revealed on Wednesday evening what was circulated regarding adding an amount of eight trillion dinars to the current year’s budget tables.

Al-Mandlawi said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, “The budget tables voted on by the House of Representatives are the same ones sent by the Council of Ministers and returned to it, according to our parliamentary decision No. 64, without any amendment.”

He added, “The aforementioned tables are the same ones that were sent to the government after approval,” noting that “the Council Presidency has formed a higher committee to examine the circumstances raised regarding the issue and determine its truth.”

He explained that “the Council of Representatives, in its session numbered 27, held on June 3, 2024, approved the estimates of the tables of the Federal General Budget Law for the year 2024 and its attachments, tables (A, B, C, D, E, W) and the deficit financing table as received from the Council of Ministers without any amendments or additions, with the latter being authorized to transfer allocations of an amount of two trillion Iraqi dinars to the governorates not organized in a region and distributed according to population and poverty rates.”

Al-Mandlawi continued, “In order to confirm that no amended version has been adopted, we have reissued a letter from the House of Representatives/President’s Office No. 616 dated July 21, 2024, a copy of which is attached, and sent to the Council of Ministers/President’s Office, which clearly indicated (approval of the estimates of the budget law tables and its attachments from the above-mentioned tables with the aforementioned deficit financing table as well as the transfer right for the same established amount, which is two trillion dinars).”

He pointed out that “a paragraph included in the same book clearly confirms that (the parliamentary decision included the adoption of the tables sent by the Council of Ministers, which were approved in the session held without any additions).”

Al-Mandlawi warned, “Any party that attempts to mislead public opinion by concealing the facts and dishonestly transmitting the events, to achieve illegitimate goals far from the integrity of neutral transmission and objectivity that it should possess, will be subject to legal accountability.”

Local media and social media platforms circulated news that an amount of eight trillion dinars had been added to the 2024 budget tables without tabulating its disbursement.

Shafaq.com

Talks between the Prime Minister and the Saudi Foreign Minister during his meeting in Baghdad

Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani met today, Thursday, August 22, 2024, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. The Prime Minister’s media office stated in its statement, “Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.”

He explained that the meeting discussed bilateral relations between Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and prospects for developing and growing them in all fields, especially political and economic, strengthening fruitful partnerships, and activating the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council, in a way that achieves mutual benefit and common interests for the two brotherly countries.

The meeting witnessed a review of the most important developments in the region, the repercussions of the continued aggression in Gaza, the necessity of continuing joint work and coordinating Arab and international efforts to stop the aggression, and urging the international community to play its full role in preventing the tragedy of the genocide that has been ongoing for more than ten months against the Palestinian people and their historical right to live on their land.

Burathanews.com

Saleh explains the reason for the rise in foreign dollar remittances and its impact on the national economy

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained the reason for the increase in sales of foreign currency remittances {dollars}.

Saleh told Al Furat News Agency, “The phenomenon of increasing sales of foreign currency transfers is due to the results of the important change that occurred in the policy of the Central Bank of Iraq in dealing with foreign transfers and intervening in the monetary market through the transformation of the mechanisms for financing foreign trade for the private sector from the compliance platform to new mechanisms represented by strengthening the accounts of correspondents of Iraqi banks abroad in foreign currency at studied and sufficient levels that are consistent with the requirements for financing foreign trade for the private sector in foreign currency.”

He added, “After the compliance platform had previously rejected nearly 85% of foreign transfer requests during the past months, the policy of strengthening the accounts of Iraqi banks with their correspondents from solid international banks, as an alternative policy, has become so easy, simple and flexible that it has made the implementation of daily foreign transfer requests available and achieved through foreign correspondent banks directly without going through the platform, at a high rate of nearly 85% of the total demand for these daily foreign transfers.”

Saleh explained that “this high change in the flexibility of transfers has been reflected positively on the national economy, especially in the stability of the functions of supply and demand within the national economy in two directions, the first of which is {the supply side} and is represented by the availability of a wide supply of goods and services in the local market through flexible imports financed by the fixed official exchange rate of 1320 dinars per dollar.”

He explained that “the other direction is {the demand side}, which refers to the process of exchanging the Iraqi dinar for the dollar for the purposes of financing foreign trade through the transfers mentioned above, which means that meeting the demand for the dollar represents a direct meeting of the demand for (foreign goods, services and benefits) for the benefit of the local market.”
He pointed out that “meeting the demand for foreign currency represents an important pillar of the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Iraq, and achieving its operational objectives in confronting the levels of local liquidity surplus from the dinar and controlling them, which constitute what is called {surplus demand}, as this control over local liquidity represents a positive intervention by the Central Bank’s monetary policy in the money market and controlling the levels of that liquidity.”

Saleh continued, “This control leaves positive effects in achieving a balance between the real flow in the overall economy of goods, services and benefits and the monetary flow within the economy itself,” indicating that “such a balance between supply and demand achieves stability in the general level of prices and welds growth levels in inflation rates, which is positively reflected in the stability of the purchasing power of the dinar and the general monetary income.”

Alforatnews.iq

Parliamentary Finance: Speculators continue to control the dollar

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mustafa Al-Karawi, confirmed today, Wednesday, that price speculators continue their suspicious trade by manipulating marketing prices and importing goods and commodities under the pretext of the rise in the price of the dollar.

Al-Karawi said in a statement to Al-Maalouma Agency, “Speculators continue their suspicious activities in manipulating incoming and outgoing goods to keep the dollar price high in local markets.”

He added, “There is no real system to control the exchange rate, and this chaos has caused speculators to control the dollar market,” noting that “they did not give any consideration to the Central Bank’s platform.”

Al-Karawi stressed the need to “unify efforts between the Central Bank, ports and customs to control goods and not allow speculators to control the dollar exchange rate.”

Almaalomah.me

The Withdrawal Trap.. Biden Will Implicate the Next President in the Thorny Iraq File

The Washington Post newspaper considered that President Joe Biden’s plan for a military withdrawal from Iraq is a trap for the next US president, and may pave the way for a worsening crisis in the Middle East, while indicating that the withdrawal will mean Washington’s complete abandonment of the region and its surrender to Iran.

In 2021, President Joe Biden announced the end of the combat mission in Iraq, but left 2,500 American soldiers there and 900 soldiers in Syria to lead the international coalition against ISIS. But now, with only five months left in office, his administration is working with the government of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on a plan to declare the end of that mission as well, and announce a timetable for bringing those forces home.

According to the report, there is a problem with Biden’s desire. Although he seeks to declare “mission accomplished,” it is not, and the follow-up plan is not close to completion. If Biden formally agrees to end the mission, he may pave the way for a worsening Middle East crisis that will be left at the feet of his successor (the next US president).

The Washington Post report indicated that “announcing the withdrawal of US forces, even with a two-year timetable, would indicate that the United States has completely abandoned the region at a time when allies are looking to Washington to increase deterrence against Iran.”

Worse still, according to the American newspaper, the agreement will weaken the ability of the international coalition countries to coordinate action to combat ISIS, and the departure of those forces will create a vacuum that will be filled by ISIS and Iran’s proxies.

Although the Iraqi leadership, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, is publicly calling for the withdrawal of US forces, many Iraqi officials privately fear that such a move would cede Iraq to Iranian control, according to the Washington Post.

The American report stressed the need for the next American president to negotiate an agreement to follow up on the file with the Iraqi side, and if these negotiations fail, American forces will have to withdraw completely, as happened in 2008 after George Bush, who signed an agreement to withdraw all American forces from Iraq, then Barack Obama tried to reverse it but failed to negotiate an agreement to keep some forces there, and after three years, Obama ended up returning thousands of American troops to Iraq when ISIS seized an area of ​​land the size of Virginia.

According to the report, Biden views this move as part of his legacy, to be able to say: “I am the one who ended these endless wars.”

The report concluded by saying: “No one wants to see US forces remain in Iraq and Syria forever, but declaring the mission over does not make it so.

The report concluded by noting that ending “forever wars” is easier said than done. If the United States abandons its commitment to Middle East security now, it may have to learn this lesson the hard way again.

Shafaq.com