“But the real problem is the amount that the IS group allows people to withdraw,” the bank employee explained to the merchant. “People who have approvals are only allowed to withdraw 10 percent of the balance in the account, on the condition that the withdrawn amount isn’t more than IQD10 million [around US$6,500].”
“It’s just all deception and fraud,” al-Jibouri said, folding up his papers and leaving the bank without withdrawing any money. “Most of the people who have larger amounts in their accounts are taking their time about this. They don’t want to reveal how much they have in case they are asked to pay money to finance IS fighting,” he explained to his family when they asked him why he had returned empty handed.
As some reports have suggested, although the IS group has a big budget from various sources, this is still not enough to fund their many military and social activities currently.
Despite all of the concerns that locals have about withdrawing their money from the IS-controlled institutions, there were still long queues in front of Mosul’s banks.
A local farmer, Ali al-Rashidi, was one of the first to be able to withdraw some money. He got IQD2 million (US$1,200) from his account, which held IQD20 million (US$12,000) in total.
“No matter how small the amount, something is better than nothing,” al-Rashidi told NIQASH. “And there are no guarantees that there will be money here in the future. Maybe the banks will all be robbed and any relevant documents destroyed – especially as the IS is incurring losses,” he suggested.
According to al-Rashidi and the other Mosul people who were waiting in line, getting money was a long and difficult process. The trickiest part was going before the IS’ financial committee and answering their question: “how did you acquire these funds?”.
Additionally when lining up to see the committee and get permission to get money out, the IS fighters always get priority, locals say. Often they also jump the queue.
One local tried to protest when fighters broke into the line ahead. But the gunman turned and stared at him, telling the crowd angrily that, “we don’t have time to waste standing in line, we are fighting on the front lines”.
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