LEGAL MEANS TO PROTECT PUBLIC FUNDS IN IRAQ (COMPARATIVE STUDY)
Public funds in any country are considered sacred funds that are surrounded with care and legal protection that is consistent with the desired goal of the service that these funds provide to segments of society in general, without exception, through the freedom to enjoy this service, its freeness, and the general use of it, as they are public facilities that are distinguished from private facilities owned by people, which If its services are provided to a specific segment of society, the service will be for a price with certain restrictions imposed on its enjoyment, in addition to specifying the segments that can benefit from it, contrary to what we have indicated regarding the enjoyment of public utility services. Therefore, we note that most countries, are seeking to establish special legislation for the operation of these facilities, so as to provide the necessary protection for them since the services they provide are related to the general public without exception. 1- Research objectives:- The research aims to identify the legislative shortcomings in Iraqi legislation regulating the protection of public funds and finding effective legal means to protect these funds. 2- Research methodology:- The descriptive and analytical approach was relied upon, as well as the comparative approach to the legislative texts related to the protection of public funds in Iraq, comparing them to the legislation of other countries. 3- Results:- It was concluded that the Iraqi legislator was not successful in certain aspects in terms of providing the necessary protection for these funds and its distinction between protecting the state’s public funds and its private funds in terms of ownership, while it was successful in other aspects in terms of creating new supervisory bodies to prevent abuse of these funds. 4- Conclusion:- At the end of the research, we concluded that it is necessary to allocate a public body to monitor state revenues, with no distinction in Iraqi law between public and private state funds, in addition to the necessity of tightening the current penalties regulating the protection of these funds.
Keywords: Public Funds, Public Utility, Constitutional Protection, Civil Protection, Criminal Protection.