Jubilee Iraq

August 17, 2004

Accountancy Magazine interviews Peter Daniel, a forensic accountant with BDO Stoy Hayward which has formed a committee to represent trade creditors, which it believes are owed up to 13bn. BDO has been the lead advisers to the UNCC. Daniel stressed: “Before we can get to a stage where the debt is rescheduled and renegotiated and some sort of agreement on what the Iraqi people are willing to pay, we need to get a reliable figure for what is owed and that is our first objective. This involves sitting down with the relevant authorities to decide what should definitely be paid and what is conspicuous. The main problem is that the records in Iraq are patchy – in some areas they are good and in other areas they are non-existent. So it is the luck of the draw for individual creditors as to whether the information is still there in Iraq. The Iraqi government doesn’t want its citizens to be saddled with this huge debt. It wants the economy to be built up and therefore a reasonable amount of oil reserves to be available for paying for improving schools, hospitals and building up the economy.”

Ernst & Young, which was appointed by the CPA to reconcile the debt, said that because of the current security situation it could not discuss any further details. It has, however, decided to reopen its Baghdad office and appointed Dr Sami Al-Amri as managing partner.