Iraqis circulated through their accounts on social media platforms news of freezing large sums of money belonging to Iraqi leaders, which were deposited in Lebanon, where the authorities declared the state and the Central Bank of Lebanon bankrupt.

And the representative in the Parliament of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Ali Hama Saleh, revealed that nearly $650 million of the region’s funds had been frozen in Lebanon, and he said on his Facebook page, “In 2015 I sent a message to the Prime Minister of Kurdistan and said: Selling oil through the Pakistani, Mortada al-Khani is dangerous. They did not listen to me, and as a result, nearly $650 million in Lebanon was frozen.”


He added that "the frozen funds belong to Murtada, and they are the region's oil revenues in the account of the Cypriot company."

2015 Namiyakim Bۆ Sarۆki Nard Government, Tam: Farۆashtani Nout Layan Mortaza Lakhani Pakistanە Marsidarh, Goێyan Negrt, Anنngam Nzii👇 650 Mlۆln Krnۆln lnۆrn.

Posted by Ali Hama Saleh Taha on Monday, 4 April 2022

reactions

Iraqis' reactions varied on social media platforms, regarding the news of the freezing of Iraqi officials' accounts in Lebanese banks.

"According to sources, the Iraqi funds deposited in Lebanon amount to between 16 and 18 billion dollars, most of which are the result of corruption operations that took place in Iraq," Basil Hussein, head of the "Kalwadha" Center for Studies, said - via his Twitter account -.

Hussein added that Lebanese banks facilitated deposit and transfer operations for Iraqis in the past years, and represented a financial center for Iraqi companies, officials and politicians.

#Billions


According to sources, the Iraqi funds deposited in Lebanon amount to between 16 and 18 billion dollars, most of which resulted from corruption operations that took place in Iraq, as Lebanese banks facilitated deposit and transfer operations for Iraqis in the past years, and it represented a financial center for Iraqi companies, officials and politicians.

— Basil Hussein |

Basil Hussein (@Drbasil14) April 5, 2022

The blogger, Salsabil Al-Hadithi, commented, through her Twitter account, saying, "Billions of dollars went to the freeze in Lebanon after the bankruptcy of the state was declared, and of course no one will ask about how those funds reached the accounts of politicians, leaders and influential people in Iraq to the banks of Lebanon."

Billions of dollars went to the freeze in Lebanon after the country was declared bankrupt, and of course no one will ask how those funds reached the accounts of politicians, faction leaders and other influential people in Iraq to Lebanon's banks.


In general, you live and eat other things, and the


money of water is for water, and water for milk is for milk.

— Salsabeel_Alhadithy (@2s9l3) April 4, 2022

Blogger Riam Reda wrote, on her Twitter account, that "Lebanon's official bankruptcy means the confiscation of any money in the banks, and it means that billions of faction leaders who transferred them to Lebanon's banks earlier have been lost, and now they must compensate them again from the Iraqi people's money." .

Lebanon's official bankruptcy means confiscating any money in banks.. it means billions of Iraq's militia leaders who turned them into Lebanon's banks at an earlier time, it became (for nothing) that is, by virtue of what was lost on them, and now they have to compensate them again from the money of the Iraqi people pic.twitter.com /5KbriGtmW9

— Rayam Ridha (@RayamRidha) April 4, 2022

While journalist and researcher Adnan Abu Zeid commented, through his Twitter account, saying, "Break and heart attacks are afflicting Iraqi officials who have deposited their billions in Lebanon's banks that have declared complete bankruptcy."

Stroke and heart attacks afflict Iraqi officials who have deposited their billions in the banks of the state of Lebanon, which has declared complete bankruptcy pic.twitter.com/Ia0YQKp5Nb

— Adnan Abu Zeid (@adnanabuzeed) April 4, 2022

Activist Yasser al-Jubouri wrote a tweet on Twitter criticizing the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, and said that its employees are without salaries and its money is frozen in Lebanese banks.

A page from Deloitte's report regarding the audit of the oil sector in the region mentions that there are 294 million US dollars + 310 million euros frozen in the banks of Lebanon. These amounts are from oil sales for the first quarter of 2021 only


.. All this the authority of the region does not give salaries pic.twitter.com/1TFLgUhZci

— Yasser Eljuboori (@YasserEljuboori) April 4, 2022

This comes at a time when no Iraqi party has yet announced the freezing of its funds in Lebanese banks, while the size of the Iraqi funds frozen in Lebanon is no longer clear.