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24 August 2011
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The ex-Minster of Electricity of Iraq, ousted on allegations of corruptions denies the charges and tells the Iraqi parliament that his dismissal has nothing to do with corruption, but because he touched “taboos” by cancelling lavish investor contracts of more than 12 billion and replaces them with public sector projects that cost no more than 800 million. He said that he touched a more “sacred taboo” by opening large economic relations with Iran and eastern countries like China to replace expensive similar western projects which would cost roughly two times as much.
In his struggle, ex-minister Raád Shallal Al Ani, collides with and reveals an American banking system inserted in Iraq that would dictate on the Iraqi government which countries to deal economically with and which not. Although he is a practicing religious Sunni, he considers only what is economically in the interest of his country and insists on opening Iraqi economy on Iran, the Shiite country. All this gained him the anger of too, many too powerful interests, and he was accused in a “corruption” case, which he showed that there were no money involved! The government, unable to prove corruption, turned into a set of other allegations of “week accomplishment”, then “ignoring the instructions of the PM”, etc.
Here below is the part of his speech on his collusion with investors and the American Banking system in Iraq:
“When I took charge of the
ministry of Electricity, there was a project for four stations for
"investors", we give them the machines and they build the power stations,
and then sell us electricity. I made my calculations and found that it cost
the state $ 500 million per year, for a period of 25 years, and found that
we need 400 million for two years to get the same result, so I rejected it!
(Chairman of the Parliament objected and asked the minister not to speak in
anything outside of two contracts under discussions, and the minister
insists that the issue is not the contracts, but the Ministry's policy, and
requests to be allowed to prove it, and he gives an example of another
project that was really corrupt and didn’t make any “noise” in the
media....)
I reclaimed 12 billion from
investors for the people, that is the first reason for the fuzz
Please let me complete if you want the truth, if you want politics, I am
non-political.
- The second reason (for the media fuzz) is that when I came to the
ministry, there were ongoing negotiations with Siemens for two years to
install generators we had bought, to plants Rumaila and Baiji, Sadr, Taza
and Dibis. The last offer of Siemens would cost Iraq (with the civil works)
about $ 2 billion. So I stopped the negotiations with Siemens after two
weeks, and succeeded in getting offers from Hyundai, Iran, and Orascom that
would cost us less than a billion dollars. So in this contract alone, we
spared one billion dollars for Iraq.
So it has nothing to do with fake
contracts and companies, it has to do with billions that aree cut from
investors and international companies and they wouldn’t like it.
- The third reason for the fuzz is that I exceeded one of the biggest
taboos, and that is openness on Iran. There is no solution to the problem of
electricity without opening to Iran, and Iran is ready. They provide us with
electricity for less than the international market price and kerosene oil
for less than the market price, and they are ready to provide us with liquid
gas for less than the market price. We owe them now $ 300 million for the
price of electricity that we bought from them and they wait patiently for us
to pay!
- The (TBI) (Trade Bank of Iraq) is choking the Iraqi economy. We are not
allowed to transfer money to other countries but through the (TBI). No
letter of credit can be issued above the $ 3 million limit, without the
consent of the (TBI). I have objected to this officially, and I told you
about it here in this parliament.
The reason for this is that the corresponding bank of (TBI) is the US bank
"JP Morgan" and it follows the American Administration laws and sanctions.
This means that any country subject to the American sanctions, we are
obliged to sanction it automatically, as happens now in the sanctions
against Iranian banks, issued by the U.S. Administration, and Iraq is forced
to join whether we want or not. We have now a $ 300 million debt to Iran and
we cannot make the transfer!
I have written on this subject (to the government) and I said that we are
obliged to conform to the decisions of the Security Council resolutions, not
the U.S. administration, but it seems that these subjects are taboos for us!
These are the reasons (why I am dismissed), large companies and political
decisions that we are not allowed to come near to.
I came today to explain to my children that their father led a clean way,
and tell them to raise their heads high, and that I am committed to what I
promised them not to feed them from stolen money, because the body that
grows by theft, is due to go to hell.”
Video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rocQRgIy3io