Iraq Anti Corruption Raid Sparks Shock After Massive Seizure 🇮🇶
Reports from Iraq say an anti corruption operation uncovered $57 million in cash, 27 kilograms of gold, and luxury items including gold underwear at the home of MP Hind al-Abbasi. Local media also reported dozens of detentions involving officials and bureaucrats as the investigation expands.
The reported details have drawn huge attention online because of their scale, though some of the more sensational claims are still being circulated mainly through regional media and have not yet been fully detailed in official public statements.
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Mixed estimates of the amount of money recovered from corruption between hundreds of millions and billions of dollars
The government is moving to deposit the recovered funds from corruption files in a special account supervised by the Ministry of Finance, in preparation for using them to support public spending and finance service and investment priorities, while the final estimates of the size of these funds are still undecided. The Prime Minister’s Financial Advisor, Mazhar Mohamed Saleh, said in an interview with Al-Mada that the recovery of funds related to corruption files will be reflected on the public budget through two tracks: the first is the introduction of cash revenues to the budget within the other revenues section, and the second is to stop the bleeding of corruption and reduce the cost of public spending, which gives the public finances a dual effect represented by new flows and cutting waste.
For his part, economic affairs specialist Haider al-Sheikh told Al-Mada that the prime minister has directed the Minister of Finance to open a special account to deposit the money recovered from those accused of corruption and manipulators of public funds. He predicted that the recovered cash will exceed $500 million, and will reach a value of about $1 billion after the confiscation of movable and immovable assets, real estate and property.
He stressed that the recovered funds, even if they reach $1 billion, will not be enough to address the fiscal deficit, because Iraq needs about $50 billion to fill the budget deficit, while the government needs about 8 trillion dinars a month to secure the salaries of public sector workers.
https://almadapaper.net/441685/