$2.5 billion in tax rebates defrauded by Iraqis
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani announced on Nov. 27 that the government had recovered part of the cheated tax refunds totaling 3.7 trillion dinars (about 2, 5 billion US dollars). He called on the criminals to surrender and return all the stolen money.
According to the Associated Press, $2.5 billion is equivalent to 2.8 percent of Iraq’s 2021 budget.
In a live televised address, Sudani said law enforcement recovered the first ill-gotten sum of 182.6 billion Iraqi dinars, or about $125 million.
This is a photo of government buildings in the “Green Zone” of Baghdad, capital of Iraq, on June 4, 2019. Published by Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Khalil Dawood)
On either side of the podium are piles of banknotes neatly packed in bags.
The stolen money was returned by the rich businessman involved, Nur Zuhail Jassim. Sudani said Jassim has frankly received more than $1 billion in fraudulent tax refunds and has reached an agreement with the Judiciary Department that if he returns all the rest of the stolen money within two weeks, he will be released on bail.
Jassim was arrested at Baghdad International Airport late last month as he tried to leave the country on a private jet. Sudani said another suspect has been arrested in the northern Kurdish autonomous region, and the judiciary is completing formalities to escort him to the capital Baghdad.
In October, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance found in an internal audit and follow-up investigation that the General Administration of Taxation’s tax refund account under the Ministry of Finance was running a huge deficit, with a balance of only 100 million dollars. From September 9 last year to August 11 this year, approximately $2.5 billion in tax refunds were returned to the tax accounts of 5 companies in 247 checks, and the money was subsequently withdrawn. These 5 companies were actually “shell companies”. was paid into a tax account.
The State Tax Refund Account should be used for tax refunds to businesses that have applied for tax refunds under tax relief policies. The case emerged after an oil company complained to then-finance minister, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, after it found it was unable to collect tax refunds. The Sudanese government, formed in October and committed to cracking down on corruption, has focused on the case.
The account holders of the five companies involved in the case are all wanted and most of them are currently on the run. Jassim, who serves as CEO of two of the companies, has an extensive network of contacts and is a key figure in the case.
“We are calling on all suspects on the arrest warrants in this case to surrender and return the stolen funds,” Sudani said in his speech. “It is very important to catch these thieves and their accomplices. However, the most important thing is to recover the stolen money.”
According to a document from the Iraqi Tax Administration, the case was planned by a large number of colluding officials, civil servants and businessmen, involving multiple government departments and agencies. The Associated Press quoted some Iraqi officials as saying that such a large-scale embezzlement conspiracy could be successful, and it is impossible for the “senior” officials of the relevant agencies to be unaware of it.
The identities of the tax officials and public institutions involved in the scandal “will be revealed at the end of the investigation”, Sudani said, adding that “we will spare no one”. (Hu Ruoyu)Come back to Sohu to see more
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