Integrity Committee: We have come to serious information about the theft of tax secretariats

POSTED ON[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] BY [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]Integrity Committee: We have come to serious information about the theft of tax secretariats[/size]

[size=45]The Parliamentary Integrity Committee talked about reaching results it described as dangerous in the case of theft of funds from the secretariats of the General Authority for Taxes, while talking about the big names involved. A member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, Vian Dakhil, said, "The work of the investigation committee on the theft of the century reached important and dangerous information, but the large number of people who were mentioned and summoned delayed the preparation of the report."[/size]
[size=45]Dakhil added, "There is dangerous information that cannot be disclosed to the public opinion until after the completion of writing the preliminary report and voting on it in the parliament session."[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out, "There are big and important names involved in the tax secretariat process that will be mentioned in writing the report to take the necessary action against them."[/size]
[size=45]Another member of the committee, Hadi al-Salami, said, “When hosting the former head of the Integrity Commission in the House of Representatives, he revealed new information about the theft of money, which is that the protection company for Baghdad International Airport, which is not registered with the Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with the thief of public money, smuggled part of this money abroad.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salami stressed, "The National Intelligence Service, National Security, and Military and Civil Intelligence have been directed to follow up on the issue."[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Salami indicated, "The government's insistence on fighting corruption and preserving public money, and the prime minister can file cases through the public prosecution service, so the judge is forced to file complaints against the accused."[/size]
[size=45]And he continued, “The procedures of the Integrity Investigation Courts, if they were against a former minister about a corruption file, send to the same accused a request for an administrative investigation, i.e. the same party that stole public money. The court also addresses the accused with his desire to file a complaint, and the latter, of course, refuses that.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salami went on to say, "The Federal Court's decision prevented the interrogation of the ministers of commerce and oil in the previous government, which had been carrying out its duties as a caretaker government since the previous parliament itself was dissolved on the seventh of October of 2021."[/size]
[size=45]While the other member of the committee, Khaled Rikani, stated that “there are two types of trusts, the customs trusts and the tax trusts. The first type goes directly to the state treasury, while the second type takes years to transfer to the treasury.” And Rikani continued, "If the amount of money remains in the tax secretariats for a period of five years, and it is not demanded to return it, then that money is transferred to the state treasury, indicating that it becomes the minister's authority to dispose of that money."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The tax secretariats originally belong to the large investment companies. A percentage of the capital of the projects implemented by those companies is deducted to be deposited in the secretariats for a period of ten years, and in the event that they are not claimed or not returned, they are transferred to the state treasury." A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, said, “The relevant parliamentary committees held a series of meetings during the past days with the aim of discussing the file of the theft of 3.71 trillion dinars from the secretariats of the Tax Authority.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Dulaimi added, "The meetings included officials in the Ministry of Finance and the Tax and Customs Authority to find out the circumstances of the accident."[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out that “the thefts took place over the course of a whole year, between September of last year to October of this year, until all these sums were spent.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Dulaimi explained, "The General Tax Authority is primarily responsible for disbursing these amounts without any right."[/size]
[size=45]And she indicated, “Five companies were the ones that were specialized in the exchange, and they came without authorization from the original owner of the trusts, and these companies do not carry any agency or legal bond.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Dulaimi believes, "The Tax Authority recognized that the exchange took place without any priorities, and therefore it is considered stolen from the state treasury."[/size]
[size=45]And she stressed, “The Director General of Taxes confirmed the existence of large parties that participated in the thefts, and it is a large network that includes all institutions.” And Al-Dulaimi reported, “The head of the Finance Committee in the former parliament, Haitham al-Jubouri, by his personal disposition without the knowledge of the rest of the committee members, directed a letter not to audit the guarantees account in public taxes, and the Council of Ministers asked the Financial Supervision Bureau not to audit this account.”[/size]
[size=45]And she emphasized, “The Tax Authority invoked these two arguments, and there was no control over the amounts, leaving the door open to illegal actions.” Al-Dulaimi explained, “The Minister of Finance sent a letter to the Tax Authority in the month of 11 of last year, preventing it from disposing of funds without returning to the ministry.”[/size]
[size=45]And she added, “The Tax Authority did not comply with the minister’s letter, but rather relied on directives of non-interference issued by the Council of Ministers and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Dulaimi called on “the judicial and oversight authorities, represented by the competent courts and the Integrity Commission, to exercise their role in holding the defaulters accountable and recovering the stolen funds.”[/size]
[size=45]And she continues, “The companies that received the money were established on the same dates, and they were newly established only a year ago or less than that, and the money was distributed to them in a way that suggests that they shared the shares.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Dulaimi added, "Some of these amounts have been smuggled and the other has been invested in real estate, but we indicate that all measures currently taken by the relevant authorities are not at the required level."[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]