Allawi responds to recent decision to freeze his assets

Shafaq News / Former finance minister Ali Allawi responded on Monday to the decision to freeze his movable and immovable assets, against the backdrop of the "heist of the century".

Allawi rejected the charges against him and called for an international court to investigate the matter, noting that he would issue a detailed report on all the steps and procedures taken by the finance ministry to prevent violations in the tax authority and respond to the parliamentary report on this theft.

In a statement, Allawi said, "A series of judicial orders were issued against me last week, including the freezing of my movable and immovable assets, an arrest warrant, and an investigation, all related to what is known as the heist of the century. The specific charge against me was facilitating the seizure of tax deposit amounts, and I do not have detailed information on what these charges are based on, but I have been informed that this information remains confidential."

Allawi added, "I initially received this news through social media, not from any official source, and it turned out that the order to freeze my assets was sent by the Supreme Judicial Council to the Ministry of Finance in February 2023, almost a month before I heard about it on social media. Similarly, the arrest warrant was not delivered to my home in Baghdad or any other address related to me, but was posted on the Integrity Commission's website."

"In fact, I find these actions shocking, and they cast doubt on my integrity and years of service to Iraq and its people. I completely and categorically reject these baseless allegations," he continued.

The former minister said, "When I took over the Ministry of Finance, our financial situation was dire, with a depleted treasury, a spreading pandemic, and the collapse of oil prices. We succeeded in overcoming these extremely difficult challenges, paid off our debts, ensured payment of salaries, and started the reform process embodied in the white paper. At the end of the term of Prime Minister al-Kadhimi's government, we were close to reaching a 100 billion US dollars of foreign exchange reserves."

Former Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi stated that he worked hard to obstruct and uncover corrupt practices during his tenure.

Allawi said he fully cooperated with the Integrity Commission in the Ministry of Finance, and did not hesitate to provide them with sensitive files when suspicions of corruption arose. He also prevented a contract that would have imposed unjustifiable costs amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars on the clients of the largest government bank.

Allawi pointed out that he had launched the automation of customs management by contracting with a United Nations agency to obtain a globally recognized customs automation system, adding that he was "at the forefront of developing the bidding requirements for the automation of the tax authority and tax system in collaboration with the World Bank. If fully implemented, these measures would have significantly reduced corruption in the banking sector."

Allawi also said that he developed a new set of modern internal systems for government banks, especially Rafidain Bank, which, if implemented, would raise Iraq's banking sector to international standards.

Regarding the theft of the century, Allawi explained that he took a number of measures in October and November 2021, when there were indications of breaches in the tax authority. In particular, he issued a ministerial order to the tax authority's director-general on November 4, 2021, prohibiting them from issuing any tax refunds from the trust account without the minister's office's approval. However, it later became clear that the tax authority's director-general did not comply with the ministerial directive.

Iraq's former finance minister has spoken out about corruption in the country and its impact on security and prosperity for the Iraqi people.

In a statement released on August 16, 2022, the minister expressed concern about the spread of corruption and its threat to Iraq as a state, and the damage it has done to the country's ability to provide security and prosperity for its people.

After resigning from his position, he was contacted by the Integrity Commission to provide information on the issues he raised in his resignation statement, but he did not receive an official response for two months.

The minister has since appeared before a parliamentary committee investigating the "heist of the century," in which he denied any involvement in the crimes he had spent years exposing and fighting. He claims to have been the victim of leaks and false accusations on social media, and says he will dedicate the rest of his life to exposing those responsible for the heist and bringing them to justice.

The minister concluded his statement by saying, "As a first step, I will soon issue a detailed file on all the steps and procedures that we have taken in the Ministry of Finance to prevent abuses in the Tax Authority. I will also respond to the final report of the parliamentary subcommittee on the theft of the century, especially the provisions related to my decisions in the ministry in this regard."