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September 23, 2008, 15:17U.S. funds sent from Iraq to al-Qaeda - source
A
former Iraqi investigator said more then $US13 billion of the money
allocated for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen,
with some of it ending up in al-Qaeda’s coffers.
Salam
Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public
Integrity – which U.S. officials call Iraq’s equivalent of the FBI –
was reporting to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the
Democratic caucus.
He said many of the projects funded by the U.S. ‘were not needed, and
many were never built’ like an electricity project in Nineveh province
that an oversight agency found ‘existed only on paper’, reports the
Washington Post newspaper.
Embezzlement schemes were widely used for arms procurement, according
to Adhoob. In one case Iraqi Defence ministry officials helped set up
two front companies to buy combat vehicles and other equipment with
$1.7 billion in U.S. funds. The companies were paid, but for some items
only ‘a small percentage’ of the order was delivered and, in one case,
the delivered bullet proof vests were defective and absolutely useless.
The ex-investigator said the Iraqi government was not interested in
investigating such cases and many investigators feared for their lives.
Adhoob said 32 of his colleagues have been killed over the three years
he worked for the Iraqi agency, and he eventually fled the country
himself because of death threats.
Adhoob said he reported the situation to the U.S. agency charged with
detecting and rooting out cases of waste and abuse - the U.S. Special
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. A spokeswoman for the agency
commented that it continues to ‘actively follow up’ on the tip but
would not discuss ongoing investigations.
Speaking along with Adhoob was an Iraqi American who worked as an
adviser to Defense and State department officials in Iraq for five
years. He testified in silhouette by a video link from an undisclosed
location because, he said, he feared for his safety. In a modified
voice, he accused Iraqi government officials of working with al-Qaeda
members at the Baiji refinery to steal oil to sell on the black market.
where would that go?