An Iraqi source told "Gulf News": Phantom consulates in Europe receive their salaries from influential parties

A source in the Iraqi Foreign Ministry told «Gulf News» that the investigation that was supposed to open in the fake consulates case was closed under pressure from influential parties.

The source indicated that the Ministry of Finance provided the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the number of employees of four consulates that do not exist on the ground, the total salaries they received over 15 years, and the influential parties benefiting from those funds, but the investigation was stopped and the file was closed without announcing the results of the financial investigation about the fate of That money, nor the party who benefits from it.

And the Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi had discovered during an audit of the ministries' expenditures the existence of four fake consulates, including the Iraqi consulate in Munich, Germany.

The crew that manages those consulates includes diplomats and fictitious employees, most of them holders of doctoral degrees, who receive very high salaries, in addition to annual petty expenses, documents to purchase real estate for fake consulates, luxury-class diplomatic cars, real estate and fake cars, and every two years updating the wheels of satellite consulates with fictional numbers that are difficult to believe. 

Allawi said that 50 to 100,000 space employees receive government salaries, and that a large proportion of government jobs are unproductive and a country is replete with higher degrees, many of which are useless.

For his part, the former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed the deterioration of the efficiency of Iraqi diplomacy in an unprecedented manner in the history of Iraq. Muhammad al-Hajj Hammoud said that the parties nominate some of their leaders to appoint them ambassadors for Iraq in developed countries, but these do not have the minimum qualifications of diplomats, describing those who met them from those parties that they were not fit to be petitioners at the door of a department of the state. For her part, an Iraqi lawmaker revealed that a series of investigations will be conducted into the performance of some Iraqi consulates abroad. 

Representative Alia Nassif said that a series of investigations will be opened in the House of Representatives about complaints submitted by Iraqis residing in Turkey regarding the practices of the Iraqi consulates in Istanbul and Gaziantep, indicating that if these complaints are verified, the negligent will be brought to Baghdad and referred to the Integrity Commission. She indicated that the Iraqi consulate in Istanbul laughs at the community by assigning a phone number to book dates for renewing passports, but this phone is not answered, expressing her hope that the Minister of Foreign Affairs will answer the following question: How many days a week do Istanbul consulate employees work? And with what side or party the corrupt people become so hard that they intentionally insult people.

http://www.akhbar-alkhaleej.com/news/article/1228084