http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/Here is the kind of news that gets buried in the back page of our newspapers: the UN-mandated auditors have sharply criticized the U.S. for its handling of Iraq's oil revenues. This Financial Times article details an interim report issued by KPMG, which was set up by the Security Council last May to oversee coalition spending from the development fund which contains oil revenues, Iraq's frozen assets and funds from the UN's oil-for-food program. KPMG auditors claim that the $11.3 billion of the $20.2 billion in funds spent since the U.S. took control have not been accounted for adequately. The bookkeeping is shoddy and "open to fraudulent acts." Moreover, they also claim to have "encountered resistance from CPA staff" in their efforts to conduct the audit.
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373157793&p=1012571727102UN slams US over spending Iraq funds
By Gareth Smyth in Baghdad and Thomas Catan in Washington
Published: June 21 2004 22:00 | Last Updated: June 21 2004 22:13
United Nations-mandated auditors have sharply criticised the US occupation authority for the way it has spent more than $11bn in Iraqi oil revenues and say they have faced "resistance" from coalition officials.
In an interim report, obtained by the Financial Times, KPMG says the Development Fund for Iraq, which is managed by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and channels oil revenue into reconstruction projects, is "open to fraudulent acts".
The auditors criticise the CPA's bookkeeping and warn: "The CPA does not have effective controls over the ministries' spending of their individually allocated budgets, whether the funds are direct from the CPA or via the ministry of finance."
The findings come after US complaints about the UN's administration of the oil-for-food programme under Saddam Hussein.
According to the CPA, the Development Fund for Iraq has taken in $20.2bn since last May and has disbursed $11.3bn, with $4.6bn left in outstanding commitments.
One adviser to a member of the recently disbanded Iraqi Governing Council said the report raised the fear that no audit of the CPA's work would ever be completed. "If the auditors don't finish by June 30, they never will, because the CPA staff are going home," he said. "I lament the lack of transparency and lack of involvement by Iraqis."
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