Iraqi Central Bank’s relation with private banks suspicious

Iraqi Central Bank Baghdad – Jaafar Al Nasrawy Investigations revealed money laundering suspicions in monitoring the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), an official said. Osama al-Nukaifi, speaker of Iraqi Council of Representatives issued a statement on Sunday which stated “the results reached by the economic and financial committees and the head of audit revealed corruption in selling dollars and internal transactions.”
The statement added that the results of the investigations mentioned the involvement of the CBI with private banks and exchange offices which were spread in Iraq since 2003 without any regulations.
Al-Nukaifi said there are fake transfers of millions of dollars to import materials as well as a flaw in the exploration of money laundering operations in the CBI and the private banks.
Nujaifi stated that investigations are ongoing since 2003.
He said this matter will dealt with the Integrity Commission as it is related to the country’s economy and can’t be hidden from public opinion.
Parliamentary financial committee member Haitham Al Jabouri revealed the involvement of senior CBI members in currency corruption, and added that the Integrity Commission is still investigating this issue, and that names will be available to the public at the end of the investigations.
Al Jabouri added that the committee hosted several officials from the CBI, tax and customs to investigate the case, and delivered a report to the Integrity Commission.
The primary result of the investigations will be available in two or three weeks, he said.
In August 11, of the current year, the CBI announced an increase in its reserves of the foreign currency to $67 billion. The reserves are the highest in Iraq’s history and are one of the policies to decrease the inflation in the country.
The CBI holds daily sessions for selling and buying foreign currencies, with the participation of Iraqi banks, except in public holidays where the sales are either in cash or by transfers sold abroad for a certain commission.
Months ago, accusations emerged about the currency smuggling which affected the selling prices of dollars in the local market and increased its exchange rate.