Iraq Funds Are Focus of 27 Criminal Inquiries

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-probes30jul30.story
THE WORLD
Iraq Funds Are Focus of 27 Criminal Inquiries
By T. Christian Miller
Times Staff Writer

July 30, 2004

WASHINGTON — A comprehensive examination of the U.S.-led agency that oversaw the rebuilding of Iraq has triggered at least 27 criminal investigations and produced evidence of millions of dollars' worth of fraud, waste and abuse, according to a report by the Coalition Provisional Authority's inspector general.

The report is the most sweeping indication yet that some U.S. officials and private contractors repeatedly violated the law in the free-wheeling atmosphere that pervaded the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild the war-torn country.

More than $600 million in cash from Iraqi oil money was spent with insufficient controls. Senior U.S. officials manipulated or misspent contract money. Millions of dollars' worth of equipment could not be located, the report said.

"We found problems in the CPA's financial management, procurement practices and operational controls," Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the inspector general, wrote in the report. "These results are not surprising: The CPA faced a variety of daunting challenges, including extremely hazardous working conditions."

The report raises anew questions surrounding the occupation government under Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, who turned over control in June to an interim Iraqi government.<snip>

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. dupe

of http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x717280

but very important, nevertheless.