Nearly $ 700 million ‘disappeared’ from some state banks in Iraq
Nearly $700 million in public funds was expropriated from several state banks in Iraq in a scandal involving 41 people.
That is the result of a three-year investigation released by an anti-corruption commission in Iraq on June 9, according to AFP.
Specifically, a total of 926 billion IQD ($697 million) disappeared due to “forgery, embezzlement, manipulation, money laundering and abuse of office,” according to a statement released by the Iraqi anti-corruption committee.
The scandal occurred at a branch of agricultural bank in Maysan province and four branches of Rasheed bank in Maysan and the capital Baghdad.
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A branch of Rasheed Bank in Al Nu’Maniyah city, Iraq Screen capture nara.getarchive.net/ |
The anti-corruption commission did not specify a time frame for the incident, but an official said investigations into suspicious illegal activity began in 2019. The official, who did not wish to be identified, said: It added that arrest warrants would be issued for 41 people suspected of wrongdoing in connection with the scandal.
The anti-corruption commission said several bank employees and even customers were among the suspects.
Official figures released last year estimate more than $400 billion has disappeared from state coffers in Iraq since the dictator took power. Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003, according to Reuters. Iraq ranks 157th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perception index.
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