Looks like some folks in Iraq have the same instincts as some of ours. Procurement is just the place for people with sticky fingers and no ethics.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Ex-Iraqi defence minister wanted over $1bn fraud:
Iraqi authorities are preparing an arrest warrant for the country’s former defence minister in connection with a massive fraud case involving the “disappearance” of more than $1bn from ministry coffers. Judge Raid al-Radhi, who is head of Iraq’s commission on public integrity, said yesterday that he had given Iraq’s central criminal court a dossier of evidence against Hazim Shaalan, who was minister of defence under the former government of Ayed Allawi.
“What Shaalan and his ministry were responsible for is possibly the largest robbery in the world. Our estimates begin at $1.3bn [£720m] and go up to $2.3bn,” Judge Radhi, who is Iraq’s senior anti-corruption official, told Reuters.
The “robbery” is believed to include the signing of multimillion-dollar deals with companies to supply equipment that was sometimes inappropriate for the new army or was years out of date. It is also alleged that the ministry paid huge premiums for some military hardware.
Today the FBI arrested the former (as of last week) GSA chief of staff on ethics charges. This guy is well-connected: perhaps he’ll be the one to rat out the kingpins.
Former White House Official Arrested:
WASHINGTON — A former Bush administration official was arrested Monday on charges he made false statements and obstructed a federal investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents and government officials.
David Safavian, then-chief of staff of the General Services Administration and a former Abramoff lobbying associate, concealed from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with GSA when Safavian joined him on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002, according to an FBI affidavit and the officials.