Iraq cabinet names interim central bank governor

Iraq's cabinet on Tuesday named an interim replacement for the country's central bank chief, who was suspended amid an inquiry over currency manipulation, the premier's spokesman told AFP. "The cabinet decided to authorise Abdelbassit Turki, the head of the Board of Supreme Audit, to run the central bank indefinitely," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi said, adding that Sinan al-Shabibi had been suspended from his post by the country's anti-corruption watchdog. The watchdog, known as the Integrity Commission, confirmed on Tuesday that it had opened an inquiry into the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) tied to alleged manipulation of the Iraqi dinar's value against the US dollar. "I can confirm that we received the Central Bank dossier from the integrity committee in parliament," said Hassan Aati, spokesman for the Integrity Commission. "It is currently under investigation. The investigation has just started." Baha al-Araji, the chairman of parliament's anti-corruption committee, said earlier that the investigation was "not about money, but about procedures that led to the weakening of the dinar against the dollar." Shabibi, who had been in Tokyo to attend a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, was now in Europe, Deputy Governor Mudher Saleh told AFP. He did not provide details of which country or when precisely Shabibi was due to return.