An exchange of accusations between the Finance and the Central Bank about the reality and fate of billions of Marib
English - Saturday 24 June 2023 الساعة 04:28 pm
Aden, Newsyemen, Special:
The dispute escalated sharply between the Central Bank in Aden and the Ministry of Finance regarding the issue of billions supplied by the bank's branch in Marib, with the two parties exchanging accusations about the truth and fate of these billions.
The issue exploded last week with press reports revealing that the central bank in Marib had supplied 185 billion riyals to the headquarters in Aden, and had deposited it in the government's accounts, and that the bank's governor, Ahmed Ghaleb al-Mabaqi, withdrew the amount and returned it to Marib.
These reports were later categorically denied by the governor of the bank in a television interview with the official Yemen channel and ridiculed of them. After that, an official document was leaked for a notice of supply of the amount issued by the bank, in response to the bank's denial of the matter.
This was followed by the leaking of another document circulated by activists on social media, addressed by the Minister of Finance in mid-May to the governor of the bank, confirming the occurrence of the matter, in which the minister accuses the governor of carrying out illegal procedures that led to concealing the amount completely and zeroing it.
The document shows the Minister of Finance's response to a clarification from the governor that the amount pertains to local oil sales during the previous years, and it was disposed of as soon as possible, and there is no cash flow corresponding to that account.
Where the Minister confirms that the amount is credited to the account of the Yemeni Oil Company at the Central Bank branch of Marib as a net balance, and that the company did not dispose of it as it is a general revenue in exchange for sales of local oil derivatives produced by the Marib Refining Company, and it was not possible to withdraw from it by any party.
While the minister considered the central bank’s issuance of the supply notice as evidence that “the amount is available at the branch and has not been disposed of by the owner of the account holder or others,” he accused the bank’s leadership of “a unilateral procedure that is incorrect and contrary to the provisions of the laws in force, by making a settlement of the amount that appeared in the statement.” The monthly account issued by the bank for the month of April 2023, which led to the concealment of the amount completely and zeroing it without any impact on the general government account.
These accusations from the Minister of Finance were responded to by the bank’s management in a lengthy statement issued on Thursday evening, in which it leveled a veiled accusation against the Ministry of Finance of targeting the bank, as it indicated that it had issued the statement “after official documents were leaked to the press addressed to the bank related to the same issue before their arrival or delivery to the bank.”
The bank's management said that "the alleged amount has been registered in the book from the Marib branch to the center in Aden as foreign oil sales at the request of the Ministry of Finance, with a total of 187, not 185 billion Yemeni riyals, as revenue in the form of old balances from the central bank branch in Marib, without these balances having any An actual cash presence, whether in the center in Aden or in the branch in Marib.”
The bank’s management revealed that the Ministry of Finance submitted several requests to transfer balances from current accounts at the bank’s branch in Marib related to previous years, including an amount of 187 billion riyals under the name of oil revenues, and a request to register them as revenues for this year 2023 and to close them in the general government account at the main center of the Central Bank in Aden, despite that there are no cash balances in those accounts.
Explaining that it refused to enter these balances into the government’s general account, and demanded the creation of a comprehensive mechanism that would deal with the situation in Ma’rib in terms of revenue and expenditure in accordance with the requirements of the law and the applicable financial regulations, stressing that all these revenues are fictitious numbers recorded in books, and there are no cash amounts in the coffers of the Marib branch or in the coffers of the main center in Aden.
The bank management justified its position by rejecting the ministry’s request to enter these balances into the general government account as revenue in 2023, as it means an imaginary inflation of revenues, misleading decision makers, as well as external partners and supporters, and weakening the efforts of the political leadership and its demand for brothers and friends to obtain support that addresses chronic deficits for balancing.
The statement renewed what was stated by the bank’s governor in the television interview, by striving since the appointment of the bank’s new leadership in December 2021 to link the bank’s branch in Marib, and referring to the agreement between the leadership of the state and the leadership of the Ma’rib governorate and in the presence of Finance, the bank and other parties on a mechanism to deal with the revenues and expenditures of the Marib governorate, which is What was welcomed by everyone, and committed to implementation, except for the Ministry of Finance, which asked permission to consult and return within two days, but to this date it has not returned," according to the statement.
