- (AFP) -- A special investigator tracking money spent
by the US on reconstruction in Iraq has said he found millions of dollars
worth of fraud by US officials and companies.
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- Stuart Bowen, the special inspector-general for Iraq
reconstruction, said on Thursday that the US Justice Department was looking
into fraud that he had uncovered.
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- Giving details of his latest report, which is to be released
on Saturday, Bowen also told National Public Radio (NPR) that US-backed
reconstruction projects in Iraq were speeding ahead.
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- "The reconstruction for Iraq is peaking, 1000 projects
are completed and 1000 more are ongoing," he said.
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- The US has allocated $23 billion for new infrastructure
and Bowen's previous reports have already highlighted huge sums of missing
money.
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- He said his latest report looks at four water projects
and "the results are all over the map".
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- He also told how $7 million 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.
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- No accountability
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- "There was no accountability, no records,"
Bowen said. "Unfortunately there were possible fraudulent activities
occurring."
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- Bowen said US officials and contractors were involved
but would not identify them as the Justice Department was now leading an
investigation into the fraud.
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- The so-called "rapid response construction dollars"
were intended for projects that were hurriedly started in the months before
the US handed over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government in June last
year.
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- "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.
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- The special auditor, who reports to the US Defence and
State departments, said when the contractors were asked "they didn't
have much to say as the lack of records spoke volumes".
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- The United States has promised $23 billion out of the
$60 billion that the World Bank has said will be needed to build functioning
infrastructure in Iraq.
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- "Our mission in Iraq is to make a significant step
towards rebuilding the country, but it is not the rebuilding of Iraq -
it had been left in such a state of decay. We have made a good strong step
towards bringing oil, water and electricity online," he said.
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- When asked if US taxpayers were getting value for money,
Bowen said security had cost more than expected and the project priorities
had changed three times.
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- "I don't think anyone could have anticipated the
level of insurgency and the diversity of its sources. The number one drag
on this entire project has been the security problem."
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- "Reconstruction is moving rapidly along but we are
by no means close to being finished," he said.
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