Where Did All Of Iraq's Oil Money Go?

Luay al-Khatteeb, National Interest: Corruption in Iraq: Where Did All the Money Go?

Officials have pilfered funds that could have been spent fighting ISIS.

Once again, the subject of illicit financial flows from kleptocratic regimes is in the international spotlight, this time in the form of the “Panama Papers.”

What is surprising is the level of shock at something that should have been obvious. For a long time, many financial institutions turned a blind eye to nefarious PEPs (politically exposed persons) and not just in Switzerland, as we see now with big names such as HSBC, once again deflecting allegations.

The industrialized world can’t afford any more surprises like this, otherwise aid and loans will continue to enter weak states, only to be rapidly snuck out.

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WNU Editor: In the past few years .... especially when oil was over $100/barrel .... Iraq earned $700 billion in oil revenue. But now .... with nothing to show for it .... we now have a situation where Baghdad is running to the IMF begging for money .... IMF agrees $5.4bn Iraq bailout to tackle Isis and budget deficit (Financial Times). More here .... IMF agrees $5.4 billion standby loan for Iraq (Reuters). So where did the money go? The official line is that it went into infrastructure, social programs, government salaries, the military, and everything else. Truth be told .... whether it is Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela .... money has a habit of going somewhere else.