Iraq demands for UN protocol to recover stolen money
“The wealth of the Iraqi people suffered for nearly four decades from organized drain and thefts that cost the general budget hundreds of billions of dollars and deprived the sons of the country from chances of growth and development and caused the emergence of poverty, unemployment and corruption,” "The head of the delegation and Chairman of the Integrity Commission , Alaa Jawad Hamid said in his speech at the forum , briefed by "Shafaq News”.
He stressed that " theft of money and smuggling it out to out the country has become a cross-border international crime as its effects threaten seriously the development plans and warn of the collapse of the international economic system cross- money laundering operations and employment practices in illegitimate practices , in the forefront of terrorist crimes“.
The Chairman of the integrity board called all countries and civil society organizations to take the most strict measures regarding these crimes, especially money laundering operations or making way for “thieves " to invest the stolen amounts in economic activities to gain more profits .
He called “international parties to draft a protocol additional to the UN anti-corruption Convention that oblige signatory countries to bilateral cooperation to prevent the entry of looted money or depositing it in banks or investing them in any commercial or economic activities and deliver the thieves to it”.
He explained that “this measure will be a strict procedure which would deter corrupters from the exposure to public money”.
It is worth mentioning that the concerned organizations with issues of global economic and financial transparency put Iraq at the forefront of countries that suffer from rampant corruption in most of the administrative and financial institutions
As local observers confirms the escape of many Iraqi officials including ministers and directors of departments and institutions out of Iraq after being involved in operations large financial corruption.
