Parliamentary Integrity: International agreements are ineffective in recovering smuggled funds

Iraqi parliament building مبنى
 
05/07/2021

Economy News - Baghdad

The Integrity Committee of the House of Representatives confirmed, on Monday, that international agreements are ineffective in recovering smuggled funds from the country, and while noting that some countries grant smugglers immunity, it confirmed that removing Iraq from the list of high-risk countries will open the door to international cooperation to recover funds.

Committee member Alia Nassif said, "There is a draft law prepared by the Presidency of the Republic entitled the Corruption Proceeds Recovery Law and it needs the international community's cooperation with Iraq after adopting and implementing it," according to "Conscious".

And she added, "Removing the name of Iraq from the list of high-risk countries will allow it to take legal measures, and open the door to international cooperation to recover funds and stop smuggling operations from Iraq. The matter also depends on bilateral agreements with countries where smuggled Iraqi funds are located."

And she stressed that "some countries consider Iraq's money as booty and give the smugglers immunity and do not report the money smuggled to it," noting that "Iraq is bound by the United Nations Convention against Corruption, but it is ineffective."

And last Wednesday, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, during his visit to Brussels, called on the European Union to form a coordination committee to remove the name of Iraq from the high-risk countries that would support the government’s efforts to fight corruption and recover and prosecute smuggled funds in European countries. 

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