A US congressional watchdog yesterday expressed alarm over $2.5 billion (€1.8 billion) awarded to an American company to help train Iraqi police forces.
In a scathing report, the special inspector-general for Iraq, Stuart Bowen, said oversight of the company awarded the contract, DynCorp, was weak. “As a result, over $2.5 billion in US funds are vulnerable to waste and fraud.”
The report is the latest of Mr Bowen’s investigations since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to raise questions about the estimated $20-$30 billion the US has spent on reconstruction.
Mr Bowen had previously uncovered payments for construction projects that had not been completed, and others where buildings were unsafe. In one incident, DynCorp reportedly built a camp at a cost of $43 million that was not used. Mr Bowen also found that the state department had spent $36 million on weapons that could not be accounted for, some of which may have ended up in the hands of insurgents.
The new report said that DynCorp got the contract, one of the biggest awarded in Iraq, in 2004 to build facilities and provide whatever was needed to create an Iraqi police force. Among the examples of mismanagement, the report said $4.5 million had been spent on providing security for contractors who already had bodyguards.
State department spokesman David Johnson said the accusation that $2.5 billion was vulnerable was “unfounded”. He said that, in addition to the work carried out in Iraq, checks were carried out in Washington. The state department promised to provide more oversight. – (Guardian service)