Money laundering, and its impact on the Iraqi economy

Money laundering, and its impact on the Iraqi economy



02/08/2017 15:14

What is money laundering, and how they are dealt with in the world, and is there the situation in Iraq, and what are its sources in the country.

Money laundering is the hot topics in the world, operates governments and security agencies, financial institutions, and banking in particular, to combat it, what constitutes a serious threat to global peace and security.

Identify money laundering or money laundering as economically, "the transfer of funds resulting from the practice of illegal activities to funds enjoy a proper legal appearance, especially in terms of their sources."

The legal process known as "accepting deposits or funds derived from illegal act or a criminal, and hide the source, or covered up, or help a person whose principal actor or partner in that work to evade the legal consequences to be done."

Money laundering process and passed through several stages, such as the stage of substitution, where a large quantity of liquid money "Cache," This is the most difficult stage for the possibility of exposure is money, and the stage of the coverage, which is less dangerous, where is inserted money dirty in the banking system and institutions working or associated with it, where it is to hide the relationship of these illegal funds its sources, and the third phase is called the merger, which is the last phase, which is the integration of illicit funds in various financial and economic processes, and the movement of funds from one bank to another or moved out of state.

International Monetary Fund says in his recently published statistics, the trade volume of money laundering is between $ 950 billion and $ 1.5 trillion in the world, and this is liable to put the global economy in an awkward position.

And it formed Economic Cooperation and Development, an international financial organization committee to combat laundering financial aid, (26) Member States, including the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, as well as the European Commission, and worked on scheduling countries where suspicious money laundering operations are in progress.

How is the money laundering process in Iraq

Middle Eastern countries or Arabic are the money laundering process more easily, because the Arab banking system, which is based banking confidentiality, fertile ground trying mafia to exploit such confidential for the implementation of the money laundering operations, as an obstacle to the control of that money, dealing heavy foreign currencies instead of the national currency in bank accounts and operations of buying and selling.

And Iraq as one of the Arab countries, it is, especially after the year 2003 and witnessed the country, the absence of government and all its institutions supervision, and his successor, the destruction of infrastructure and the exposure of the Iraqi market, has become a favorable environment for money laundering.

It was the internal environment and the absence of the state in full its organs and institutions a role in the birth of this case clearly; and the absence of the rule of law and the regulatory bodies and the policy of dumping, and the black market, and the adoption of an open market policy with global markets, including new and shoddy goods, as well as the opening of borders with the world without restriction or condition and is supported by the ease of the circulation of funds and convert them to the outside and the weakness of the productive sectors to provide goods and services.

It was the lack of political and economic instability, lawlessness and a lack of well-defined stable economic policies, and the prevalence of contraband trade and commodities uncensored and rising crime rates of all kinds, a role in the increase in the money laundering operations.

Iraq became a safe haven for the crime of money laundering by the mafia, as well as the new markets created in the world, under the shadow of globalization, have no geographical location can be controlled and the increasing volume of economic crime in the world, and the announcement of some countries of destination to accept illicit money and provide facilities have vs. high benefits.

Money laundering in Iraq is complicated

The process of money laundering in Iraq is not complicated in terms of stages, where intervention funds high plains to the country, without passing through the stages that we have mentioned, as a result of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq and the lack of government regulatory efficiency; which makes the Iraqi economy vulnerable to sabotage, had thousands of recorded cases of some regulatory agencies, especially in the central and southern governorates, where people practiced money-laundering easily activities; and helping them so the development in the financial and banking sector, which accelerated to circumvent operations, in addition to the automated system to transfer funds, which facilitated the completion of suspicious transactions for money laundering.

Use the Internet, too, is the other led to the expansion of fraud through the use of pre-money laundering gangs to take advantage of the speed flash of cash transfers across the world, or between accounts in a single state operations, it shows that 25% of electronic messages sent between banks and people do not detailed information on these transfers include, helped by the exceptional circumstance that Iraq is going through at the escalation of terrorist operations with the support of other countries.

And sources of money laundering in Iraq, much different from the other, especially the developed countries, which are on most of the bank robberies and banks after 2003, which represent a high percentage in the formation of a pot of money laundering in Iraq, as well as funds from the theft of precious and smuggling antiquities, and sold in various countries around the world , comes the smuggling of oil, and the smuggling of machinery, plant and equipment and factories abroad Secondly, in terms of sources of money laundering, as well as robbery and kidnappings, devoted to the reconstruction, which is moving toward the establishment of projects and the provision of services and fake money.

Another source of money laundering sources comes from drug trafficking, bribery and administrative corruption, and profiteering from public office and the money that was owed by finance officials in some state institutions during the recent war, .oacharkat phantom.

The impact of money laundering on Iraq

The money-laundering in Iraq a significant impact on the weakening national income through depletion of capital (foreign currency), has been smuggling capital abroad, which led to an imbalance between savings and consumption.

It has the effect of money laundering heavily in monetary instability (exchange rate) in the country, and led to the distribution of income and concentration, however, a small group have negatively impacted the community, and caused the depletion of the national economy for the benefit of overseas economies and deductions of the national income.

And contributed money laundering operations in the spread of corruption and social crimes and administrative corruption, bribery and other, lower living standards of citizens through the provision of goods and services adulterated.

Iraq among the most corrupt countries in the world

Transparency International said in a statistical her about the most corrupt countries in the world for 2016, and Iraq has come among developed countries in terms of corruption, along with some Arab countries.

For its part, the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament said in a report, the existence of large financial corruption in the term of the Nuri al-Maliki as prime minister for two formations governmental organizations, said the symbols of corruption in the Maliki, a period when, banks, banks, companies, and personalities falsified documents to evade huge sums of money towards several countries.

The Commission published the official documents of the Organization of smuggling billions of dollars, took place through the auction sale of hard currency for a number of banks and financial companies between 2006 and 2014 during the rule of al-Maliki.

The head of the Integrity Commission, former Judge Rahim on 08.09.2015, "There are reports of financial control in 2010, about the corruption of money laundering in Iraq, but the political influence of the corrupt authoritarian does not allow the prosecution revealed the facts to those who tamper with state funds."

He pointed out that "al-Maliki has slide Shabibi from the Iraqi Central Bank management and the seizure of wealth or the enormous treasure inside this institution; to control the Iraqi currency, and that is what happened later," adding, "It is after the shift Shabibi from the Iraqi Central Bank to manipulate the exchange rate and stressed increased this talk chairman of the parliamentary finance committee in the Iraqi parliament in 2013, Dr. Ahmed Chalabi, because he was talking about the manipulation of exchange rates of the Central Bank of Iraq and the crisis of the low level of the Iraqi dinar and the rise of the dollar, as a result of political party control of the Central Bank of the difference to the exchange rate, which earned her won billions of dollars. "

He said, "It has collected information about a person about to Jordan $ 1.5 million to buy a property and show that this person close to the prime minister, and it was the Central Bank of Jordan doubt transfer the amount; it is the Jordan from developed countries to combat money laundering."

It helped the lack of transparency in the work of the central bank in the money laundering operations in Iraq and the scarcity of information pertaining to foreign remittances Iraqi funds reported within the official institutions of the Central Bank of Iraq, which is still insisting on the adoption of banking secrecy, which in fact does not help in the face of money laundering crimes. "

He Ugaili, said the Anti-Money Laundering Office has not provided since 2004 and one crime for investigation, noting that $ 551 billion in oil revenues did not enter the state treasury, but fled abroad, but the funds were not smuggling carried out by the banks only.

Money laundering cases closed

It seems that the CBI was involved and possibly subjected to pressures and instructions from the political parties, says Ugaili some in the Iraqi judiciary is corrupt, because the issue of money laundering in 2500 left idle Iraqi judge, Vkovi on that money and leave a six-month stint in Lebanon.

For his part, economist Humam Shamaa, said the money was smuggled to resort to safe havens outside Iraq and the intervention of banking network to become clean after it was dirty, pointing out that the Central Bank of Iraq is that it legitimizes dirty money laundering.

Chandler said and pointed out several front companies to send currency abroad, and under the eyes of the government, as the muggers remit funds under the protection of the responsibility of the Iraqi government to other countries, any safe haven in order to banking network interference and then become a money-called clean money, and they pay the high commissions.

Iraq's loss of money laundering

Finance Committee, said the value of the corruption of currency laundering, saying it cost the country a loss of $ 360 billion during the period between 2006 and 2014, or about 4 billion per month, and it has been confirmed one way or another TI inclusion Iraq among the most corrupt in the world six countries,

It is noted that because shed destinations corrupt political forces in Iraq, it is difficult to prosecute the crime of money laundering, and there is no intention to restore Iraq's money stolen, not the actual ability to do so, and this has largely reflected on the Iraqi economy, the average citizen, who still suffer hunger and deprivation where it became the unfairness include all the components of the people, and Iraq today live a real financial crisis and witnessing the general budget of the country where each year a large deficit.

So the responsible parties of the Finance Committee, integrity and eliminate work to recover Iraq's money looted, and the preservation of the sovereignty of the Iraqi state to maintain the state treasury and the need to work on a special anti-crime money laundering in Iraq Act, is responsible in the country will prosecute mafia money laundering and are counter-case manner effective, or that the situation will deploy larger and traders continue to money laundering in the theft of the people's money.

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