Parliamentary Finance indicates the return of money smuggling to the currency sale auction “with greater force”

by **claud39** Sun Jul 18, 2021 11:53 am

Parliamentary Finance indicates the return of money smuggling to the currency sale auction “with greater force”

2021-07-15

Parliamentary Finance indicates the return of money smuggling to the currency sale auction “with greater force” 1609320672247

Shafaq News/ Member of Parliamentary Finance Committee Jamal Kougar revealed, on Thursday, the return of "smuggling and laundering" of money through an auction selling currency in the Central Bank "with greater force" after Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi announced last April to eliminate him.

Cougar told Shafaq News Agency, "The auction that the Central Bank conducts daily is a major corruption," noting that "the bills that are presented and the sales numbers that are announced are exaggerated, and they are more than the country's needs, and they include money laundering and smuggling of hard currency to neighboring countries."

Cougar added, "The House of Representatives had previously hosted the Central Bank and officials on the currency auction, and there was pressure on the government to stop it," noting that "the Prime Minister announced at the time the elimination of corruption in the currency auction forever, but it was returned again and with greater force. Because the will does not exist, and because the country is open to political blocs and influential parties.

Cougar explained that "Iraq is one of the few countries that conducts an auction of currency and is managed by the state, and it needs it because the state's budget is spent in dinars and our resources come in dollars, and merchants need dollars to import goods from abroad, and therefore there must be an entity that does this work according to a certain mechanism." Pointing out that "the defect is not in the presence of the currency auction, but rather the dollar that is sold does not match the bills presented by traders and investors, as what is sold in the auction is profitable by some political parties and does not go to the right place."

On April 11, 2021, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi announced the success of his government in stopping waste and corruption in what is known as the "notorious" currency auction.

Al-Kazemi said in a statement at the time, "Our measures to combat corruption continue despite the obstacles that some are trying to put in place, but we will continue without retreat."

It is noteworthy that the accusations escalated regarding currency smuggling operations, which cast a shadow over the selling prices of the dollar in the local markets and led to an increase in its exchange rate.

While MPs demanded that the government take the initiative to stop the sale of currency in the Central Bank auctions, others stressed that Iraq is losing large sums of money as a result of daily smuggling outside the borders.

Observers say that despite the Central Bank's sales of hard currency and its pumping into Iraqi markets through sales outlets, the value of goods imported into Iraq does not equal 30% of the value of the dollar consumed at the local level daily.

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