| Iraqis ‘help Iran skirt’ sanctions |
WASHINGTON Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed because of its nuclear programme, using a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that are providing Teheran with a crucial flow of dollars, the New York Times said on Saturday.
In some case, Iraqi officials are turning a blind eye to trade with Iran, while other officials in Iraq are directly profiting from the activities - with several of them having close ties to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al Maliki, the Times said.
US President Barack Obama acknowledged the problem last month when he barred a small Iraqi bank, the Elaf Islamic Bank, from any dealings with the American banking system, the newspaper said.
At the time, the president said that the bank had “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.” And yet Iraqi banking experts told the Times that Elaf Islamic Bank was still participating in the Iraq Central Bank’s daily auction at which commercial banks can sell Iraqi dinars and buy dollars.
Reuters
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