Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, revealed on Wednesday evening what was circulated regarding adding an amount of eight trillion dinars to the current year’s budget tables.
Al-Mandlawi said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, “The budget tables voted on by the House of Representatives are the same ones sent by the Council of Ministers and returned to it, according to our parliamentary decision No. 64, without any amendment.”
He added, “The aforementioned tables are the same ones that were sent to the government after approval,” noting that “the Council Presidency has formed a higher committee to examine the circumstances raised regarding the issue and determine its truth.”
He explained that “the Council of Representatives, in its session numbered 27, held on June 3, 2024, approved the estimates of the tables of the Federal General Budget Law for the year 2024 and its attachments, tables (A, B, C, D, E, W) and the deficit financing table as received from the Council of Ministers without any amendments or additions, with the latter being authorized to transfer allocations of an amount of two trillion Iraqi dinars to the governorates not organized in a region and distributed according to population and poverty rates.”
Al-Mandlawi continued, “In order to confirm that no amended version has been adopted, we have reissued a letter from the House of Representatives/President’s Office No. 616 dated July 21, 2024, a copy of which is attached, and sent to the Council of Ministers/President’s Office, which clearly indicated (approval of the estimates of the budget law tables and its attachments from the above-mentioned tables with the aforementioned deficit financing table as well as the transfer right for the same established amount, which is two trillion dinars).”
He pointed out that “a paragraph included in the same book clearly confirms that (the parliamentary decision included the adoption of the tables sent by the Council of Ministers, which were approved in the session held without any additions).”
Al-Mandlawi warned, “Any party that attempts to mislead public opinion by concealing the facts and dishonestly transmitting the events, to achieve illegitimate goals far from the integrity of neutral transmission and objectivity that it should possess, will be subject to legal accountability.”
Local media and social media platforms circulated news that an amount of eight trillion dinars had been added to the 2024 budget tables without tabulating its disbursement.
shafaq.com
