Forgotten transfers and the "data" bank in Aden... A mockery of the failure of the legitimacy tools
English - Monday 06 February 2023 الساعة 03:02 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, exclusive:
For the sixth day in a row, the issue of unreceived money transfers is still the talk of Yemenis on social media, after the publication of lists of a remittance network that includes more than 64,000 unreceived transfers with amounts amounting to billions of riyals.
The disclosure of these remittances belonging to the Al-Imtiaz network came about a month after the expert in cybersecurity, Engineer Ahmed Al-Alimi, revealed that the Houthi group sought to oblige remittance networks to transfer unreceived remittances for a month after they were sent, to a special account in the militia's central bank in Sana'a.
Al-Alimi revealed, at the time, huge financial numbers for these transfers from one network, the Al-Imtiaz network, whose non-received transfers were published recently, warning of the existence of huge sums with the existence of about 20 networks of money transfers in Yemen that include thousands of unreceived transfers by their owners.
What Al-Alimi revealed, at the time, prompted the Yemenis on social media, after publishing the lists of the concession network, to ask the rest of the transfer networks and exchange companies to disclose the unreceived transfers, some of which resorted to announcing that they would contact their owners and inform them, while publishing phone numbers to inquire about them. This was considered by the pioneers of social networking sites as fraud and an escape from disclosing the size of the transfers.
The controversy sparked by the disclosure of these unreceived transfers, or what Yemenis called "forgotten transfers", recalled the complete absence of the central bank's role in Aden in controlling the financial and banking market in Yemen as the legitimate and internationally recognized bank.
This is what the economic analyst, Waheed Al-Foudei, talked about in his posts on his Facebook page, where he believes that it is normal for there to be inactive or unreceived transfers, but "it is not normal that the Central Bank - Aden has no role in supervising and controlling them," according to Saying it.
Al-Foudei adds that he did not see any role for the legitimate government represented by its internationally recognized central bank in Aden, which was absent from monitoring, following up and making appropriate solutions for inactive transfers, stressing that it is "one of his most important duties and functions in oversight, supervision and protection of the rights of the public dealing with banks and exchange companies."
The dangerous thing, according to Al-Foudai, is the exploitation by banks, money transfer networks, exchange companies and shops of these funds estimated at trillions of riyals (billions of dollars) for their own benefit and for the benefit of the Houthi terrorist group. He adds: It is even used in currency speculation, illegal profiteering, and terrorist financing.
Economic journalist Majed Al-Daari adds, for his part, the issue of forgotten transfers, to what he says are "violations committed by exchange networks in Yemen that rise to the level of full-fledged crimes," and confirms that the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden remains primarily responsible for that.
According to Al-Daari, the exchange and remittance networks continue their violations "in a comfortable and safe manner, without any punishment or government inspection campaigns on them, as a result of the complete absence of any oversight and supervisory role on the part of the central bank administration and the banking supervision sector in particular."
In the face of this criticism, the bank's management contented itself with publishing a brief statement, in which it said that the issue of unreceived remittances "was covered early on by regulatory controls for the work of remittance networks." Attached is a copy of a circular it issued to exchange companies and facilities in late 2019 regarding licensing controls for transfer networks.
The Central Bank administration promised to launch the unified network for remittances during the coming period, stressing that this will be followed by "transferring all unpaid remittances with remittance networks to the unified network and depositing their cash equivalents to settlement banks."
The bank's statement, instead of calming the sharp criticism against its management, generated more severe criticism, as Yemeni politician Sami Noman ridiculed the bank's management issuing "theorizing statements about what should and should not be ... while the market under its control is drowning in chaos, corruption, and looting of people's money." And not to cash their remittances," he said.
Noman referred to the passage of two years since the administration of the central bank in Aden talked about the unified network of remittances, wondering about its usefulness. He concluded his speech by saying: The bank “should and should not” must work to stabilize the currency strictly at the highest ceiling, and we do not ask for the impossible. As for the "Al-Dariha" monetary policy, it is a policy that is destructive to the economy and refreshing to the market.
