Coll 17/18(2) 'Smuggling between Kuwait and Iraq' [29r] (57/889)
The record is made up of 1 file (443 folios). It was created in 15 Jun 1935-14 May 1942. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
mote .
P. z.
561
. 19"- J
The three British hbnk managers t»eie J'^itieirted to
^ epre ® ente ''- 5v,5a or the Iraq Government on Wednesday the
:? th J 0 y e I lber# . The l8tt « r consisted of the Director-General of
the Ministry ol Finance, the Accountant General, and the
Director-General of the Ministry of Economics.
, v Jhc questions raised by the Government representatives
were (e) flight of capital, and (b) exchange control*
(a) was raised owing to some uninformed comments which
have appeared recently in the vernacular press. The banks were
unanimous that they had seen no signs of any serious flight of
* proposal to prohibit the exoort of gold was
dlecucsed and this recurs later in this Note. The view expressed
by the banks was that whilst prohibition could be made effective
in the case of shipments by recognised routes it would be
impossible to prevent smuggling on a large scale oving to the
geographical position of the country with which view the
Government representatives were in accord. It was pointed out
that the gold which has been leaving Iraq for destination
' probably, at least in p”rt, reforwarding to Oyria.
of which the volume in the past three months or so has been
considerable, was almost if not entirely in transit from India
v,smuggled out) and 3audl Arabia and
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
*
(Xir own comment! begins -
HIt l ® estimated that gold sovereigns smuggled from India
^Karachi) during the last few months reached a total of half
a million sovereigns* worth £1,000,000/- mostly Imported by
passengers on regular passenger boats and dhows*"
Comment ends*
(b) ihe Government representatives had no fixed ideas as
to what form exchange control should take and how it should be
applied and solicited the views of the banks*
The latter stressed that any control intro uced should
not apply to sterling and linked currencies, sterling and rupee
payments which are the principal items, being already
effectively controlled in Great Britain and India* Furthermore,
it was pointed out that any form of control over sterling
operations might run counter to the Iraq Currency Laws and
regulations and the Government representatives acceoted those
views.
There remained, therefore, only the question of hard
currencies which, in Iraq at the present time, boils down to
u.3*dollars almost entirely*
The Director-General of Finance said that the
Commercial Secretary of the British Embassy had out it to him
that the British Government could not be expected to continue
as in the pest to provide Isrge sms of dollars for Iraqi
requirements as long as a free market for that currency exists
here and dollars created by Iraqi exports are not sold to the /
London Contro!. It was recognised, therefore, that unless there
was full cooperation in this matter betwe n Iraq and the British
Government, the former might find themselves dependent for
dollars solely for those which resulted from their own exports
to/
/
/
About this item
- Content
This file is a continuation of IOR/L/PS/12/2878, and contains papers regarding the alleged smuggling of goods from Kuwait to Iraq, and attempts to broker Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation. an agreement between the Shaikh of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ) and the Government of Iraq with regards to the prevention of smuggling and the establishment of effective frontier controls. It consists of correspondence between the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Kuwait, and HM High Commissioner (and later Ambassador) at Baghdad, as well as communications received from Al Sabah and representatives of the Government of Iraq.
The bulk of the correspondence concerns efforts by HM Ambassador at Iraq, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Kuwait, to broker Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation. an agreement between the two parties. This included discussion of Iraqi proposals to assume control of Kuwaiti customs, to instigate joint border-controls and a manifest system for goods transported by land or sea, or to impose Kuwaiti tariffs on imports at the same rate as Iraqi tariffs. Later correspondence discusses the negotiation of an anti-smuggling agreement between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and a proposed customs union between Kuwait and Iraq. The correspondence makes reference to on-going negotiations over the Kuwait-Iraq border, and the Iraqi date gardens owned by the Shaikh of Kuwait.
There is a small quantity of correspondence from 1941 between the Government of Iraq, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and the Ottoman Bank at Baghdad, regarding currency smuggling, money laundering, and the purchase of Indian rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. .
The file includes dividers which give lists of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the end of the correspondence (folios 2-3).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (443 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 444; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-444; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2879
- Title
- Coll 17/18(2) 'Smuggling between Kuwait and Iraq'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:8v, 10r:18v, 20r:31v, 33r:34r, 35r:36v, 40r:41v, 43r:51v, 54r:96v, 107r:153v, 155r:309v, 311r:327v, 333r:334v, 337r:354v, 356r:385v, 387r:427v, 429r:438v, 443r:444v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence