One engineer who works in the city’s power department was surprised to see that the salary he hadn’t received for a long time was smaller than usual; about 5 percent had somehow gone missing.
The IS group has already confiscated the salaries of local Christians and Shiite Muslims but it seems that now the Caliph’s hands are stretching out for more cash. The engineer asked about the missing money and was told that 5 percent was being deducted from all salaries and being deposited in the group’s “Bayt Al Mal”, a traditional Islamic treasury where funds for social welfare and other public purposes are stored.
Not everyone earning money has become a victim of the IS group’s dubious accounting practices. Some employees, of institutions like Mosul’s courts, provincial government and universities, have been being paid in secrecy.
The money is transferred from Baghdad to one of the nearby cities that are not under the control of the IS group, such as Kirkuk. After this the money is smuggled into Mosul in cash and salaries are then distributed to the different heads of department in secret, and they in turn pay their employees in secret.
One accountant who was involved, and therefore could not be named, said this was being done because otherwise the IS group would confiscate the payments.
“Optimistic people say that the percentage that the IS group takes will go up,” the accountant commented. “Pessimistic people say that this is the last time anybody here will be paid.”
(Currency image via Shutterstock)
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