More Fraud Being Investigated "Over There"

US Army Probing Multiple Contract Frauds In Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait Operations

On top of all the controversy about being in Iraq, and on top of all the fraud that has already been uncovered, comes new reports of fraud that involves not only Iraq and Afghanistan, but also Kuwait, which is a base of operations for logistics and personnel. I am willing to bet that if we dig deeper we will find even more fraud involving operations out of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where we have troops and naval vessels stationed in support of our Middle East operations.

The real problem is that it is us taxpayers that are footing the bill for all this fraud and waste, and our own government has hogtied us from recovering it or prosecuting those that are committing the fraud.

The US Army confirmed Saturday to AP that it has up to 50 criminal investigations underway into alleged frauds involving private contractors running operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. The Pentagon currently outsources many military tasks from laundry to weapons system repair work, but the military's inability to monitor most contractors has cost the US government millions of dollars. One case involves an Army chief warrant officer who allegedly took a $50,000 bribe to steer a contract for paper products and plastic flatware to a Kuwaiti company.

In August 2006, a US federal judge set aside a $10 million verdict against private military contractor Custer Battles, ruling that the former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq could not be considered a US government entity. Custer Battles was sued for defrauding the US government under the False Claims Act and a federal jury found the company guilty of 37 fraudulent acts against the CPA, including establishing shell companies, forging invoices, inflating charges, and stealing equipment in an attempt to loot millions of dollars. Earlier this month, Senate Democrats unveiled legislation that would make it easier to prosecute war profiteers.