Fraud rampant in Iraq: report

[cal04]

A SPECIAL investigator tracking billions of dollars spent by the United States on reconstruction in Iraq said overnight he has found millions of dollars worth of fraud by US officials and companies. Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said the US Justice Department was looking into fraud that he had uncovered. But giving details of his latest report, which is to be released on Saturday, Bowen told National Public Radio (NPR) that US-backed reconstruction projects in Iraq are speeding ahead. "The reconstruction for Iraq is peaking, 1000 projects are completed and 1000 more are ongoing," he said. The United States has allocated 23 billion dollars for new infratructure and Bowen's previous reports have already highlighted huge sums of missing money.

He said his latest report looks at four water projects and "the results are all over the map". Bowen also told how seven million dollars intended for the troubled Hilla region south of Baghdad had disappeared. The money came from the Development Fund for Iraq, money from oil sales that the US-run former Coalition Provisional Authority used for development projects. "There was no accountability, no records," Bowen said. "Unfortunately there were possible fraudulent activities occurring." Bowen said US officials and contractors were involved but would not identify them as the Justice Department is now leading an investigation into the fraud.


The so-called "rapid response construction dollars" were intended for projects that were hurriedly started in the months before the United States handed over sovereignty to an Iraqi government in June last year. "They were sent to Hilla to accomplish quick term projects like a police station in Kerbala or a library in Hilla. We found out that not only were the projects not completed but the money that was allocated for these projects was missing," Bowen said.

The special auditor, who reports to the US defence and state departments, said that when the contractors were asked "they didn't have much to say as the lack of records spoke volumes."
The United States has promised 23 billion dollars of the 60 billion dollars that the World Bank has said will be needed to build functioning infrastructure in Iraq.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16085414%255E1702,00.html

[Spinzonner]

1. Well, the Republicans were passing on their 'special skills'

[marmar]

2. Exactly....

Iraqis are learning from the best...

:yoiks:

[wli]

3. bringing Diebold "democracy" to Iraq

[Kurovski]

4. Senator Byron Dorgan D-ND spoke

about this last Friday on the Senate floor but ran out of time, and was to speak more on Monday, but I didn't see the rest.(watched for it, though not all day.)

He said vehicles were abandoned on the side of the road for minor things like a broken fuel pump.

Contractors charged for air-conditioning, but installed fans instead.

he spoke of Dick Cheney's Halliburton charging for 47,000 meals but delivering only 14,000 meals comprised of expired food.

Halliburton has paid some back, but they're still ripping off the taxpayer with Dick and George's fine Christian blessings.

It goes on and on folks. this is up there with the other scandals. It's called war profiteering and the administration allows, if not promotes it.

Meanwhile troops are still being killed because of a lack of armor on Humvees.

[WhiteTara]

6. the buck literally stops in the white house

thanks to chimpy and heartless.

[indepat]

5. Tell me it ain't so Joe that taxpayers are being defrauded in Iraq on a

grand scale and I bet those responsible will never be prosecuted because the grand design of Iraqi reconstruction was one gigantic fraud IMHO.

[Kurovski]

7. When they didn't have a war to hide their stealing

The Republicans had the savings and loan scam going for them.

There is always something to sate the obscene greed of these anti-social, anti-American crackpots. They are bereft of basic human decency and belong locked up away from society. They feed on every one of us and our unborn children who will pay in blood and money for their greed. They feed off the misery they've created in the Middle-East, and they feed off the misery and blood of our troops.

They are pathological criminals and strive for a system of government that will codify that.

[Kurovski]

8. Thank you to the "third voter."

[Joanne98]

9. The Bush for Bush program.......

[bemildred]

10. Duh?

We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, and the place is rubble?
What would not be fraudulent about it?

[jillan]

11. I work at a job I really dislike, and this PISSES ME OFF!

Everyday I dread going to my job, but I do it for the benefits, and the paycheck. I don't do it to MAKE BUSHCO RICHER!:mad:

[cyberpj]

12. U.S. judge limits use of fraud law against Iraq contractors

Guess that's where THIS ruling comes into play:

U.S. judge limits use of fraud law against Iraq contractors
By Erik Eckholm The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2005

A federal judge has issued a ruling that will limit the applicability of a critical antifraud statute against corporate contractors in Iraq.

Judge T.S. Ellis 3rd of U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, held on Monday that the False Claims Act did not apply to the many contractors who were paid by the American occupation authority using Iraqi oil money.

The False Claims Act offers large rewards to corporate insiders who reveal misdeeds, and huge financial penalties can be imposed on errant companies. It is widely regarded as the government's most potent weapon against contractor fraud.

The district court decision, which is the first to provide guidelines in what has been a legal void, could derail some whistle-blower lawsuits that are in their early stages and still under seal, experts in the field of procurement law declared.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/12/news/fraud.php

[jazzjunkysue]

13. Fraud Is On The March. Mission Accomplished.

I'm in total shock and awe.

[jazzjunkysue]

14. It's Clinton's fault.

Has to be.

[Robeson]

15. I thought Republicans were good at business? Gosh, this is just hard to..

...accept! :sarcasm: