Corrupt arms deals cost Iraq $800M

Associated Press

Iraq's former finance minister alleged in a US television report aired Sunday that up to $800 million meant to equip the Iraqi army had been stolen from the government by former officials through fraudulent arms deals.

The former minister Ali Allawi told CBS' "60 Minutes" that the arms fraud is "one of the biggest thefts in history" and that corrupt former Iraqi officials are now "running around the world hiding and scurrying around."

Most of the fraudulent arms purchases were allegedly made during the term of former interim Prime Minster Ayad Allawi, who took office after occupation authorities turned over sovereignty to Iraqis on June 28, 2004. When new Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi took office in May 2005, an investigation was opened into several alleged cases of corruption.

But Sheik Sabah al-Saadi, chairman of the Iraqi Parliament's Integrity Commission, told the AP said he had written to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Sunday, asking it to contact Interpol to detain all those involved in the defense corruption case, including former Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan.

He said he had documents that show the theft of $2.2 billion dollars from the time of Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003 until now.

More Corruption.

More Money Gone.

Now this newly Liberated Iraq is just Perfect zone for such frauds, in which the people of Iraq always loose and the Unknown contractors always win.

Gotta Love Democracy and Capitalism.

Who'd have thought that such unscrupulous and downright caddish individuals could've wormed their way into the virtuous and noble realm of the Arms Trade!

Hardly surprising really, is it.

Originally posted by DenyAllKnowledge
Who'd have thought that such unscrupulous and downright caddish individuals could've wormed their way into the virtuous and noble realm of the Arms Trade!

Well that is True.

Human Greed sees has no frontiers at all.

Hardly surprising really, is it.

Indeed...



[edit on 24/10/06 by Souljah]

Has already been discussed: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Though the amount stated in your source exceeds the initial amount of 500 million USD.

[edit on 24-10-2006 by Mdv2]

Originally posted by Mdv2
Has already been discussed: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Though the amount stated in your source exceeds the initial amount of 500 million USD.

Thanks for the Info!

Well I guess the numbers from yesterday just jumped a 300 million USD.

Wouldn't surprise me at all.

I saw this story on 60 minutes last Sunday, and it looks pretty convincing from that that this money was stolen. Several of those accused are living in huge mansions and living in luxury that they did not have a few years ago. One guy accused of embezzling these funds tried to claim that all of the money spent actually resulted in goods received to Iraq. His 'proof'? Photographs of ambulances, helicopters, and trucks. The interviewer (forget his name) said well, couldn't those be pictures of anybody's equipment? (duh...)

It gets worse when they said that much of the equipment that they actually did receive turned out to be pure crap. They received a bunch of used equipment that didn't meet safety standards. For example, one load of ammunition they got was declared by experts to be unsafe and liable to explode at any time because it was so old...