Baghdad- In an unconventional step, the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq recently gave attention to the exaggerated dowry marriage contracts. He issued instructions to check it and verify the sources of these funds.
On the fourth of this month, the council issued decisive instructions to the courts, stipulating the necessity of checking the sources of funds that are paid as a dowry in cases that witness an unprecedented exaggeration.
According to the new directives, the parties concerned will be referred to the Money Washing Office to conduct the necessary investigations if the judge is not convinced of the legitimacy of the source of that funds, or if it is found that there is no real intention for marriage.
The Judicial Council issued an urgent circulation that included the courts of discrimination and public prosecution and all the courts of appeal, warning against the exploitation of the personal status courts in committing the crimes of money laundering by manipulating the registration of marriage contracts that include skirts that the council described as “exaggerated and logical”, which prompts the question about the real motives behind these dowries.
Capital for money laundering
The Vice -President of the Rusafa Court of Appeal confirmed Judge Ahmed Jasib Al -SaadiThe importance of concerted official and judicial efforts to follow up and combat the crime of money laundering because of its negative effects on the national economy.
Al -Saadi told Al -Jazeera Net that the courts – especially the personal status courts – have noticed indicators that call for attention and verification, as marriage contracts that include very high and unfamiliar vocabulary in society are recorded, which raised doubts about the possibility of using such contracts as a cover for money laundering and legitimacy on them when the wife demands later, through the implementation departments or through the case of cases.
Judge Al -Saadi also referred to other possible images that may be used for the same purpose, such as demands for marital furniture or golden artifacts at exaggerated prices in front of the beginning courts, or recording transactions to purchase Badoun real estate or at unrealistic prices.
In light of these indicators, Al -Saadi explained that the Supreme Judicial Council has directed the relevant courts in the event of doubt about the sources of funds in such cases, to refer the parties to the money laundering and terrorist financing offices, to verify their sources accurately.
He stressed that the perpetrators of the crime of money laundering may resort to various methods to introduce illegal money in apparent legal transactions, with the aim of keeping them away from legal prosecution, indicating that among these possible methods, the use of sham marriage contracts that seem legally sound to give legitimacy to money.
And that the action taken by the judiciary is a preventive and precautionary action aimed at reducing these illegal actions before they are exacerbated, noting that there are no accurate statistics currently for the amounts recorded in the high dowries, and that the matter is still in the context of the initial observations and not a phenomenon or an extractive problem.
The judge stressed that the legal guarantees are guaranteed to all the accused in various crimes, and that the anti -money laundering offices and the competent courts carry out their procedures in accordance with the law that guarantees the rights of everyone, but for the parties to marriage contracts or civil cases, the action taken is limited to verifying their sources of money in accordance with the provisions of the Anti -Money Laundering Law No. 39 of 2015.
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Censorship
For her part, legal expert Sherine Zangana spoke about the escalation of anxiety over the noticeable height in the value of the dowries recorded in marriage contracts, warning of the possibility of exploiting it as a cover for money laundering operations.
Iraq records a noticeable increase in dowries in recent years, as some marriage contracts have become a dowry exceeding one billion Iraqi dinars (about 757 thousand and 575 US dollars), which raises social surprise and legal questions.
Zangana told Al -Jazeera Net that the high dowries in Iraq began to appear during the past five years, noting that the highest dowry registered in the country amounted to two billion Iraqi dinars (about 1.7 million US dollars), and this contract was documented in the Personal Status Court in Karbala Governorate in 2019.
She added that the Supreme Judicial Council revealed a new mechanism aimed at checking marriage contracts, with the aim of preventing their exploitation for illegal financial purposes. However, she indicated that the time frame of these procedures has not yet been determined, and bearing in mind that investigations usually take a long time and require conversations with the relevant authorities to prove the facts.
The legal expert warned that this procedure may complicate the marriage procedures in the event that the judge sees directing the parties concerned to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Office for not being convinced of the sources of the couple’s money, which is the procedure followed in the event of suspicions about the amounts of dowries.
She pointed out that the Supreme Judicial Council granted the judges wide powers in this regard, without restricting them with an explicit legal text, which means that the judge has a discretionary authority in expansion or restrictions in the investigation, as well as agreeing to complete the marriage contract with a high dowry based on the evidence provided and the possibility of persuading the parties to the judge to sources of funds.
In a related context, Zangana drew attention to what was monitored on social media from spending huge sums by some known or famous personalities on social media when they are linked to people with influence or businessmen, and even some politicians, which raises questions about the sources of these funds.
