Records Fail to Track $12 Billion Cash

February 8, 2007: The American Democrats are questioning accounting and recordkeeping practices after more than $12 billion in cash was sent to Iraq between May 2003 and June 2004.

Paul Bremer, the former US occupation chief in Iraq, was grilled this week by a House committee over measures taken to keep track of the cash. Congressmen asked how and why billions of Iraqi oil money was shrink wrapped 484 pallets then sent from the US to Baghdad aboard military planes.

Federal auditors have found to find adequate track records of the money sent through for reconstruction efforts shortly after Paul Bremer ran a temporary government in Iraq. Most of the money had originated from the United Nations oil-for-food program as well as Iraqi seized assets.

The Democrats asked the Administration if the money could have ended up in enemy hands, possibly through falsified names on the government payroll. An audit conducted two years ago was cited that found Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was involved in ‘less than adequate’ financial and managerial control of the money.

Henry Waxman, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said when the money was sent the US had ‘no way of knowing whether the cash would wind up in enemy hands.’

“Who in their right mind would send 363 tonnes of cash into a war zone? But that’s exactly what our government did,” he said.

Waxman went on to criticize Bremer for not implementing accounting systems that would force Iraqi ministries to keep records on the funds. “Without strong standards, we have no way of knowing whether the cash could end up in enemy hands,” he said.

The Republicans defended the situation by claiming the Democrats were revisiting old problems to embarrass the administration.

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