The Lebanon crisis topples the money of corrupt Iraqis

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[size=52]The Lebanon crisis topples the money of corrupt Iraqis[/size]

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 Baghdad: Omar Abdul Latif

Experts in the field of anti-corruption described the Lebanese financial crisis as a “mercy bullet” for the corrupt in Iraq and their money deposited there. With the money smuggled by the corruption mafias from Iraq, it constitutes a new scandal that reveals the extent of rampant corruption in the country.
The head of the “Al-Nahrain Network to Support Integrity and Transparency,” Muhammad Rahim Al-Rubaie, a member of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption coalition, said: “The financial crisis that Lebanon has suffered for three years has dealt a major blow to all the corrupt who smuggled their money from Iraq and put it there.”
He added, "Most of the money belongs to corrupt Iraqis who have held sensitive positions over the past period, or political parties that smuggled oil and natural resources and the like, and that money was deposited in Lebanese banks."
Al-Rubaie indicated that “the issue also included junior employees who deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of suspicious operations in these banks,” noting that “the corruption mafias worked to blackmail those banks after they were completely closed to no avail, and like the Lebanese government’s announcement of such decisions ( Mercy bullet) on the corrupt Iraqis and their money in Lebanese banks.
As for the economic expert, Mustafa Akram Hantoush, he attributed the reasons for depositing the money of Iraqi politicians and merchants in Beirut to “the ease of smuggling and laundering.”
Hantoush told Al-Sabah: "The adoption of the principle of non-accountability for money laundering in Lebanese banks motivated politicians and merchants to deposit their money there, and made Lebanon the lion's share of those funds."
As for the Lebanese financial expert Nassib Jibril, head of the economic research and analysis department at the Byblos Bank Group, he indicated that all depositors, whether Lebanese or foreigners, were affected by the crisis that occurred in September 2019 due to the lack of liquidity in Lebanese banks and the restrictions placed on the use of deposits and withdrawals.
Jibril said: "The insolvency in paying foreign currency obligations for sovereign bonds has increased liquidity and restrictions on bank withdrawals."
He added, "There is a responsibility to recapitalize the Banque du Liban according to the country's monetary and credit law, and the authorities cannot bear the depositor in the Lebanese banking sector part of these losses regardless of his nationality."
Reports published by Arab and international agencies estimated the volume of Iraqi funds unofficially deposited in Lebanese banks at nearly $18 billion, while other reports raised the estimates to more than $50 billion.

 Editing: Muhammad Al-Ansari
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