U.S. Handling Of Iraqi Oil Revenues Worse Than U.N. Oil For Food 'Scandal'

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Wednesday, December 15

UN panel cites irregularities in US administration of Iraq oil industry

A high level UN panel set up to monitor the administration of the Iraqi oil industry and revenues under Security Council Resolution 1483 , granting the Coalition Provisional Authority the right to spend from Iraq oil money "in the interests of the Iraqi people", reported Tuesday that it had found "important weaknesses" in program management, including lack of financial controls and inconsistently-applied contracting procedures which resulted in millions of dollars in tenders being awarded to Halliburton and other US companies without competative bid. The International Advisory and Monitoring Board is made of representatives from the United Nations, the Executive Heads of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank; its report also noted that billions of dollars had been lost by oil smuggling and misuse of funds at responsible Iraqi ministries.

Read the full text of the Board report here: http://www.iamb.info/pdf/IAMBreport.pdf

The Financial Times has more:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e0901bba-4e3f-11d9-9351-00000e2511c8.html

Is Kofi striking back?