On Thursday, two independent representatives stated that procedures were being made to remove the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq owing to his lack of control over the US dollar’s exchange rate in local markets and the appearance of forgery in currency purchase receipts.
During a joint press conference with independent MP Hadi Al-Salami held in the parliament building and attended by a Shafaq News Agency correspondent, independent MP Ahmed Majeed stated that “the rise in the price of the dollar has harmed all sectors of the state and the Iraqi economy, especially the segment of poor citizens in their livelihood and daily needs.”
He emphasized that “there is forgery in receipts submitted to the Central Bank through the currency selling window to buy the dollar to import goods, and it is in fact an operation to smuggle the currency outside Iraq, and these banks – which buy the dollar – are economic arms of political parties.”
“All of this was not followed up on by the Central Bank, and the banks that were included on the blacklist were not held accountable,” he said, adding, “so we hold the Governor of the Central Bank and the Prime Minister accountable for the chaos and confusion that is occurring in the rise and fall of the dollar exchange rate, which has had a direct impact on the simple Iraqi citizen.”
“We previously asked to host the Governor of the Central Bank during the crisis of the rise in the dollar exchange rate,” he concluded, “but unfortunately, there were parties trying to defend the governor so that he would not come to the House of Representatives, and we will take all the legal measures guaranteed to us by the Constitution in cooperation with the independent representatives to end this chaos, and we will continue to do so.” All steps for dismissing the Central Bank Governor from his office.”
Rep. Hadi Al-Salami responded, saying, “We previously sent a letter to the Prime Minister on July 26, which included a request to terminate the assignment of the Central Bank Governor and implement the recommendations.”
He added that the dismissal is also “based on Article Fifth of the Constitution, which stipulates the appointment of ambassadors and those with special grades upon a proposal from the Council of Ministers, and also on the provisions of Article 44 Second of the House of Representatives Law 2018, which stipulates that those concerned shall exercise their agency duties for a period not exceeding six years.”
“We asked the Prime Minister to take measures to end the current Central Bank governor’s assignment due to the mismanagement of the appointed governor and his inability to control the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar in the parallel market, as well as the failure to take legal measures against the banks that were subject to US sanctions for smuggling the dollar,” Al-Salami continued. In addition to the bank governor’s unwillingness to release the daily sales bulletin, there is money laundering.”
