Posted on 01/31/2005 8:49:09 AM PST by frogjerk
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The former US-led Coalition Provisional Authority headed by American Paul Bremer lost track of nearly nine billion dollars it transferred to Iraqi government ministries to a black hole of fraud, kickbacks and fund misappropriation, according to Time magazine.
In a report to hit US newsstands Monday, Time reports that the CPA left "large portions of the 8.8 billion Iraqi treasury open to fraud, kickbacks and misappropration of funds," citing a US inspector general's audit.
The report was written by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen, a high-powered lawyer from Texas, it said.
Time said Bowen's audit cites Bremer's oversight of the CPA with lax accounting and inadequate disclosure.
The report says that on one payroll, for example, only 602 of the 8,206 names could be confirmed, with no paper trail existing for the rest of the cash.
Another cited example of concern said the CPA allowed Iraqi officials to delay reporting the 2.5 billion dollars the interim government received in oil-for-food money last spring.
The report said Bremer -- who recently received the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- issued an "angry eight-page reply" to Bowen's findings, criticizing the audit for misconceptions and inaccuracies.
Bowen's office could not be reached for comment late Sunday.
Bowen's office could not be reached for comment late Sunday.
Time magazine has never been wrong before. - sarcasm
The left will try to spin the reconstruction of IRAQ into a huge Oil-for-Food scandal...
Check Iraqi Defense Minister and Ahmad Chalabi
Mmmmm, where was Sandy Berger when this went down? Somebody needs to check his pants, socks and underwear.
Bremer was the first interview on the Today show here in fly-over country. Katie went after this with him after she tried to get him to agree that Iraqi troops are not being trained fast enough and that Kerry had a great solution to that by using foreign countries to train them.
Bremer gave a great answer saying that Iraq was in a depression similar to our Great Depression and that he wasn't going to wait for US style accounting practices to be set up before he spent the money to help the Iraqis.
Guess we know the Democrats talking points for this week! Katie and Time can always be counted on giving them to us on Mondays.
You, too, can get a copy of this from Time/Life for only (6 payments of)$19.95 plus $89.95 shipping and handling. Call in the next 10 minutes and you get a free bendover.
Yeah, Time worries about your money.
Bremer attacked many of the specific findings. Among his rebuttal points:
With more than a million Iraqi families depending on government salaries, there would have been an increased security threat if civil servants had not been paid until modern pay records were developed.
U.S. policy was to build up the Iraqi force guarding government facilities, and it was better to accept an imperfect payroll system than ``to stop paying armed young men'' providing security.
The report was suggesting the CPA ``should have placed hundreds of CPA auditors'' in Iraqi ministries, contrary to United States and United Nations policy of giving Iraqi ministers responsibility for their budgets.
The CPA established a program review board, an independent judiciary and inspector generals in each agency to fight corruption.
The inspector general's report rejected Bremer's criticism. It concluded that despite the war, ``We believe the CPA management of Iraq's national budget process and oversight of Iraqi funds was burdened by severe inefficiencies and poor management.''
On the Net:
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction:
http://www.iraqreconstructionig.org/
Time magazine is the source? I'll wait for a less biased source!
I've seen no mention anywhere of the source of this money. Given that the date is October, 2003, it's likely this money was money that was captured during the invasion. In other words, it's possible we were giving back their OWN money, not ours..
The headline is flawed. We know exactly where the money went in Iraq - but we can't guarantee that the money was used for what it was intended for. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to use modern accounting practices in a war zone.
Gee - we must be getting close to nailing Kofi and Jacque!
I just read it at the Dr.s office. Only $59.00 office call, and he at least uses plenty of KY
"The report was written by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen, a high-powered lawyer from Texas" Oh, Oh! We need a Republican Senate Hearing and get this guy in to explain how he got his information and to the accuracy of the data.
yeah, like 9 billion here, 20 billion there.
Posted here too http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1332367/posts
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