US Treasury sanctions Iraqi bank’s owner over money laundering

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Treasury Department announced Monday that it imposed sanctions on an Iraqi bank’s owner over money laundering.

The department identified Al-Huda Bank as a primary money laundering concern for serving as a conduit for terrorist financing by Iran.

"Iraq has made significant progress in rooting out illicit activity from its financial system, but unscrupulous actors continue to seek to take advantage of the Iraqi economy to raise and move money for illicit activity," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement.

"By identifying Al-Huda Bank as a key money laundering channel for destabilizing terrorist activity by Iran, proposing a special measure that will sever its correspondent banking access and imposing sanctions on its owner, we can help protect the Iraqi financial system and its legitimate businesses as well as the international financial system from abuse by Iran and other illicit actors," he added.

The Treasury said the bank's owner, Hamad al-Moussawi, used individuals to execute the purchase of US dollars during currency auctions held by Iraq’s central bank by using their identity documents to circumvent limits on currency purchases and used forged documents to execute at least $6 billion in wire transfers out of Iraq.