Staff Alleges Abuses by Top Iraq Auditor

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Washington Post

Staff Alleges Abuses by Top Iraq Auditor
Employees Tell Grand Jury, FBI of Mismanagement in Inspector General's Office

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 30, 2008; A04

Federal investigators called at least nine current and former employees of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction before a grand jury in Richmond on March 18, and the FBI has summoned others for questioning this week, marking a new phase in the probe of allegations against SIGIR chief Stuart W. Bowen Jr., according to witnesses and other sources familiar with the investigation.

The FBI and U.S. attorneys have been investigating whether Bowen and his top deputy, Ginger Cruz, improperly accessed staff e-mails in violation of federal law. Current and former SIGIR employees interviewed by the FBI and questioned before the grand jury have complained of mismanagement and abuse of authority, including retaliatory firing of staff members.

On the basis of the grand jury questioning and testimony, several witnesses said they believe that the government has strong evidence against Bowen, a former White House associate counsel who heads the lead U.S. agency in charge of tracking fraud, waste and abuse of more than $21 billion in funds for Iraq reconstruction. "Based on what I saw, they should have a good case," said one key witness who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

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A focus of the investigation is whether Bowen and Cruz read staff e-mails even after the office of the Army general counsel advised them in writing that doing so would be improper, according to sources questioned by investigators and documents obtained by The Washington Post. The Army Information Center provides SIGIR's e-mail service.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901874.html?nav=rss_world

[SpiralHawk]

1. BushCo republicons: corrupt to the core

[FreeStateDemocrat]

2. This type of BS needs more coverage many Americans are uninformed about the waste/theft in Iraq

funding.