Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi has vowed to fight customs corruption, impose order and extend the law to Iraqi commercial outlets.
This came during the inauguration of the Mandali border crossing with Iran in Diyala governorate, east of Baghdad, and pointed out that the customs work was under the protection of military forces authorized to shoot at the attackers.
Al-Kazemi added that he launched a new campaign against corruption at the border customs points, pointing to the country's loss of millions of dollars due to poor taxation of imported goods.
While at the Mandali crossing, Al-Kazemi said that the government would pursue "ghosts" that were transporting cargo trucks across the border without paying customs duties.
He added, "This is a message for all the corrupt and whoever tries to blackmail the citizens, today we will restore the prestige of the state."
Al-Kazimi told reporters that "businessmen pay the customs and do not pay the corrupt".
And Finance Minister Ali Allawi had made it clear during an interview last June with the French Press Agency that customs taxes should be about 6 billion dollars annually, but what is being collected is less than a billion dollars now.
Al-Kazemi promised to implement reforms in "3 stages", in particular by replacing the security forces operating in border centers and automating data and financial exchanges.
The Mandali crossing was closed 3 months ago, along the lines of the 33 crossings that Iraq shares with its neighbors, due to the ban imposed to prevent the outbreak of the Corona epidemic (Covid-19).
The crossing will be available for commercial exchange for two days per week, according to the Border Authority, which has not specified specific days.
And Mandali is the third crossing to reopen in front of trade with Iran after Shalamcheh in Basra Governorate (south) last week, and Zurbatiya in Wasit Governorate (south) late last month.
And Iraq - which depends more than 90% of its budget on oil - is going through the worst economic crisis in its history, as the second largest oil producer in OPEC failed to diversify the economy and find alternatives to black gold.
Iraq has lost nearly 450 billion dollars due to theft and embezzlement over the past 17 years.
Prime Minister @MAKadhimi: I recommend you to protect the citizens, preserve their lives and seize the land after the operations are over. pic.twitter.com/TdlFIIn6lR
- Prime Minister's Information Office (@IraqiPMO) July 11, 2020
A military
operation The Joint Operations Command announced today the launch of a military operation with the participation of international coalition aircraft to pursue ISIS cells, with the aim of "cleaning the border between Iraq and Iran from the remnants of ISIS".
The Iraqi Security Media Cell said that this operation aims to comb an area of about 18 thousand square kilometers linking Iraq and Iran, as well as the areas separating the presence of the Iraqi federal forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, which link Diyala Governorate with the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
In a related context, the cell said in its statement that an Iraqi force had deployed in the Mandali and Munthiriya border crossings linking Iraq to Iran in the Diyala governorate, and had completely controlled the crossings.