UN envoy says Iraq could have invested missing billions in infrastructure

"What can Iraq do with its missing billions USD? Invest in schools, hospitals, energy, water, roads etc."

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2022/10/17 20:33

Top UN envoy to Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. (Photo: UNAMI)

Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert UNAMI Iraq Corruption

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), in a tweet on Monday said Iraq could have invested missing billions of dollars in Iraq's infrastructure after a financial scandal in Iraq.

What can Iraq do with its missing billions USD? Invest in schools, hospitals, energy, water, roads etc. Retrieve these funds and return them to their rightful owners. Support the GoI in its investigations. Protect those who uncover. Ensure accountability. #TheftOfTaxDeposits
— Jeanine Hennis (@JeanineHennis) October 17, 2022

"What can Iraq do with its missing billions USD? Invest in schools, hospitals, energy, water, roads etc," she asked on Twitter.

"Retrieve these funds and return them to their rightful owners. Support the GoI (Government of iraq) in its investigations. Protect those who uncover. Ensure accountability," she added.

Finance Ministry investigation concludes that $2.5 BILLION dollars was effectively stolen from its General Commission of Taxes account at Rafidain Bank by 5 companies from Sep '21 to Aug'22 who cashed cheques they were not entitled to pic.twitter.com/mlInq4EiXm
— Sajad Jiyad سجاد (@SajadJiyad) October 15, 2022

This month, the Iraqi Finance Ministry investigation concluded that $2.5 billion dollars was effectively stolen from its General Commission of Taxes account at Rafidain Bank, Iraqi analyst Sajad Jiyad based in Baghdad tweeted on Sunday.

He added this was done by "by 5 companies from Sep '21 to Aug'22 who cashed cheques they were not entitled to."

"The obvious questions: who are the real owners of these companies, who authorised these cheques to be given to the companies," he tweeted. "How did it go undetected for a year, which politicians are complicit in this massive corruption/theft."

As a result of the financial scandal, Iraq's acting finance minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar lost his job. However, he remains the minister of oil.

Jiyad in another tweet also said the accountability mechanism is compromised.

"So while this case may be resolved due to overwhelming public pressure and political interests it is only 0.5% of the total corruption in Iraq since 2003 so more work needed to fight the system behind the corruption."