BAGHDAD

- Iraq suffered a lot from fake projects after the US invasion of the country in 2003, which caused billions of dollars in losses, as a result of the economic committees taking over some projects in the Iraqi state, after taking money without completing those projects.

The Financial Supervision Bureau and the Integrity Commission, in their reports, identified the existence of lagging projects that harmed the capabilities of the Iraqi state and contributed to the country's financial losses. It is the fictitious projects that spend their money but have no effect on the ground.

Cougar: The companies to which the projects were transferred have withdrawn funds without implementing them (Al-Jazeera)

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, told Al-Jazeera Net, that the fictitious projects had risen in proportion in previous years, after there were large funds in the Iraqi state, noting that some ministries referred projects to companies, and these companies withdrew the funds without implementing the project.

He added that the steps taken by state institutions in combating bogus projects are good, and preserve public money, after the corrupt squandered it in the past period.

Iraq ranks among the most corrupt countries in the world, as it ranked 157th globally, among the Corruption Perceptions Indicators issued by Transparency International in 2021.

Antoine: The Investment Authority deleted more than a thousand fake projects several months ago (Al-Jazeera)

organized corruption

The head of the Investment Authority, Suha Al -Najjar, had previously spoken of the restoration of more than 400,000 dunums of the state’s lands, which were reserved under the umbrella of fake and incomplete investment projects, which are estimated at 90 trillion dinars (equivalent to 62 billion dollars).

In this regard, the economic expert, Basem Jamil Antoine, told Al Jazeera Net that the fake projects took place for several reasons, including rampant corruption in the country, ignorance of investment issues and lack of experience, adding that the Investment Authority deleted more than a thousand fake projects several months ago.

He stressed that the Ministry of Planning acknowledged the existence of 6,000 projects that took money from the state and the project was not implemented, pointing out that the establishment of the letter of guarantee platform is the important factor in limiting fake projects, because the companies that provide need a letter of guarantee by banks, which has become difficult to obtain except After the approval of the central bank.

ونوه إلى أن القضاء على المشاريع الوهمية خطوة مهمة نحو القضاء على الفساد المالي والإداري المستشري في جميع مؤسسات الدولة، لافتا إلى أن إعادة ضخ الأموال التي تستحصل من المشاريع الفاسدة في مشاريع أكثر إنتاجية ستساهم في تشغيل الأيدي العاملة.

Muhammad Rahim: The state needs more serious decisions to combat fake projects (Al-Jazeera)

saved the economy

The Association of Private Banks, a few days ago in Baghdad, organized a symposium on the Letters of Guarantee platform established by the Central Bank of Iraq, and included a presentation of the results achieved since its inception until now.

Ghazwan Ali Hussein, assistant director of the banking department at the Central Bank, said during the symposium, that "the platform for letters of guarantee issued, since its inception until the end of 2021, more than 30,704 letters of guarantee, with a total of more than 9.3 trillion dinars."

He explained that "the platform for the guarantee letters plays an important role in organizing contractual issues between the beneficiaries and customers, and protects government agencies and the private sector, from the companies that are reluctant to implement projects, as it increases the revenues of the banking sector."

He continued, "The letters of guarantee were suffering from major problems represented by defrauding state departments, by issuing letters outside the bank records, but the establishment of this platform eliminated all problems and limited corruption."

However, the anti-corruption supervisory institutions have another opinion, which is that the lagging projects were carried out by agreement between the political parties that chose the ministers.

The head of the Al-Nahrain Foundation to Support Transparency and Integrity, Muhammad Rahim, told Al Jazeera Net that most of the project funds seized by some corrupt companies were through the export of illegal letters of guarantee, accepted by the state, and when the company delays in implementing the project, the state demands the funds of the letter of guarantee, but it does not. There is no validity to it on the ground.

He added that the establishment of the platform for the guarantee letters is an important step in combating corruption, and removing bad and non -discreet companies, from government projects in the future, explaining that the number of fake projects is very large, and the state needs more new decisions to combat this matter.