Anti-corruption investigators have opened an inquiry into Iraq's
central bank tied to alleged manipulation of the local currency's value
against the US dollar, officials said on Tuesday. While the head
of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee and the government
anti-graft watchdog both said no charges had been brought, the former
said 30 arrest warrants had been issued, including for the Central Bank
of Iraq's (CBI) governor and his deputy. Neither government
spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh nor judicial spokesman Abdelsattar Bayraqdar
responded to multiple calls by AFP requesting confirmation, however.
"I
can confirm that we received the Central Bank dossier from the
integrity committee in parliament," said Hassan Aati, spokesman for the
Integrity Commission, Iraq's anti-corruption watchdog. "It is currently under investigation. The investigation has just started." Baha
al-Araji, the chairman of parliament's integrity committee, said the
investigation was "not about money, but about procedures that led to the
weakening of the dinar against the dollar." "Nothing has been proven until now," he said, noting: "The investigation is still ongoing."
Araji
said 30 arrest warrants had been issued, including for CBI governor
Sinan al-Shabibi and his deputy Mudher Saleh. He added the pair had not
been subjected to a travel ban. "I am sure that the governor of
the central bank and his deputy will show up in front of the judiciary
to defend themselves," Araji said. Contacted by telephone while in
Tokyo for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, Shabibi told
AFP he was unaware of any warrants, adding: "Inshallah (God willing),
there will not be arrest warrants." Iraq's currency has been
largely stable against the US dollar, which has been worth around 1,200
dinars per dollar for the past few years.
Concerns have been
raised, however, that currency auctions organised by the central bank
were being used by neighbouring Iran and Syria to shore up foreign
currency reserves, allegations the central bank has denied. The bank nevertheless tightened its rules on the purchase of US dollars earlier this year.
Source- AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment