by David Phinney
Thursday March 28th 2024

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A Billion Here, a Billion There….

It all adds up
$10 Billion Missing: Cash intended for the reconstruction effort in Iraq has been misplaced, squandered or otherwise lost through sloppy bookkeeping, job delays and bloated expenses. Sometimes work was just paid for, but never performed.
How Much Cash Recovered? About $18 million.
Government investigators made those admissions made during the short, hour-long US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Of that sum, the US Justice Department recovered about $8 million to government coffers through criminal prosecutions, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Barry Sabin told the committee.
The small office of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen fetched back another $10 million resulting from its investigations, Bowen said.
Lives Threatened: Investigating contractor fraud in Iraq is an uphill battle because of faulty and non-existent record-keeping and the ongoing violence in Iraq, Bowed explained. His office relies almost “exclusively on people coming forward.” The difficulty is that those sources work in an environment where “lives are threatened,” he said.
No More Business with Mr. Bad Guys?: Short of prosecutions, the government is pursuing debarment of contractors from future government work. To date, 14 companies have been suspended from future contracts, eight have been debarred entirely, and 12 are pending consideration for such punitive action.
Bowen’s staff consists of eight full-time investigators in Iraq and another 12 in Arlington, Va. He said his team, mostly former FBI agents, opened 300 investigations of contractors in Iraq and Washington, and has arrested 10 Americans. Two are now in prison who stole millions from the war effort.
“I know there are more criminals to be caught,” Bowen told the committee, adding that 79 cases are still open.
Connecting the Dots: Committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., blasted the Justice Department for “failing to move aggressively enough” in taking on contractors who allegedly defrauded American taxpayers. He introduced a bill in January that would set up to a 20-year prison sentence and a $1 million fine for convicted swindlers. He suggested the Justice Department takes it easy on firms like Halliburton with “close ties” to the White House.
Prosecutors at the Justice Department have 28 ongoing investigations among Iraq contractors. Some could lead to indictments in the next few months, Sabin said. “It’s a priority area for the Department of Justice.”
A version of the Associated Press story by Lolita C. Baldor. And here’s the take by Evan Lehmann of the Brattleboro Reformer.

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