The Parliamentary Integrity Committee accused a former employee of the Central Bank of being behind the banking sanctions imposed on some Iraqi banks by the US Federal Reserve.
The number of banks sanctioned is 32 out of 72 banks operating in Iraq.
Member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, Vian Dakhil, said in a statement received by (Kalima) that a former employee of the Central Bank hid the emails received from the Federal Bank, JP Morgan and Citibank to inquire about some issues related to the bank’s work.
She added that failure to respond to these issues led to some banks being punished, stressing that most banks do not know the reason for the penalties imposed on them.
On the other hand, economic expert Mustafa Akram Hantoush said that the statements of the members of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee are closer to reality than the statements of the Central Bank of Iraq.
He added that the collapse of the Iraqi banking system and the punishment of 32 Iraqi banks without any clear charges during a period of (a year and a half) is not normal and from the banking work perspective this may be the first incident of this kind in the world.
Hantoush pointed out that the worst thing is the lack of serious solutions from the Central Bank of Iraq to this situation, but rather the move towards cancelling the (Fitr) platform by the end of 2024 and handing over the dollar file to banks affiliated with foreign investors and banks (Jordanian and Gulf), according to Shafak News.
Hantoush wondered whether the Central Bank of Iraq knows that by not finding solutions for the Iraqi banking sector, it will fire the mercy bullet at the entire Iraqi banking system and it will be punished as a whole, which will lay off nearly (100) thousand workers in the Iraqi private banking sector for the benefit of Jordan and the Gulf States, and why are Iraqi banks not guaranteed to open an account for them in the correspondent banks in dollars (Citibank / JP Morgan) like the countries of the region did.
He continued, “Why has the mechanism for cooperation and auditing with Ernst & Young regarding transfers in currencies other than the dollar not yet been determined and announced?”
