Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 30. Juli 2004 / Time Line July 30, 2004
Version 3.007/30/2004
U.S. Authorities' Spending in Iraq Is Criticized in Audit
Report
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities in Iraq spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars without keeping good enough records to show whether they
got some services and products they paid for, government
investigators said.
Officials of the former Coalition Provisional Authority did not
have records to justify the $24.7 million cost for replacing Iraq's
currency, according to a report from the authority's inspector
general. The report also said the authority paid nearly $200,000
for 15 police trucks without knowing if the trucks were
delivered.
The report, released in Iraq late Wednesday, is the first formal
audit of contracting procedures under the authority, which oversaw
billions of dollars in reconstruction spending that critics say was
doled out without proper controls.
The agency's defenders say it did the best it could given the
pressure of operating in a war zone and trying to get
reconstruction going quickly.
"We believe the contracts awarded with Iraqi funds were for the
sole benefit of the Iraqi people, without exception," Army Brig.
Gen. Stephen M. Seay wrote to the inspector general.
The authority ran Iraq from May 2003 until the U.S. handed over
power to an interim Iraqi government on June 28. The authority used
seized funds from Saddam Hussein's government and oil revenues to
pay for 1,928 contracts worth about $847 million, the inspector
general's report said.
An authority rule from last August called for following
international law and U.N. regulations while spending Iraqi money.
But the authority did not issue standard operating procedures or
develop effective contract review, monitoring and evaluation, the
report said.
Gen. Seay said the authority's contracting office was overworked,
understaffed and under constant threat of attack.
The investigators reviewed 43 contracts and found 29 had incomplete
or missing documentation. For each of the 29, "We were unable to
determine if the goods specified in the contract were ever
received, the total amount of payments made to the contractor or if
the contractor fully complied with the terms of the contract,"
investigators wrote.
For example, the official overseeing a contract for 15 double-cab
pickup trucks for an Iraqi police department paid $87,500 before
the trucks were delivered and an additional $100,000 without
getting written records that the trucks arrived at the police
department, the report said. The report did not say whether the
trucks were ever delivered.
The report also criticized the contract for exchanging Iraqi
currency, which had been cited as a key success by the authority's
former administrator, L. Paul Bremer.
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