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MADRID (AFP) - The chief of the US occupation authority in Iraq (news - web sites) rejected allegations that billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenue and other funds earmarked for the reconstruction of the country had gone missing in “opaque” bank accounts.
Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, said all funds were being spent or transferred in a “completely transparent” way and that auditors’ accounting of CPA expenditures from those funds would soon be posted on the internet and provided to an oversight board.
“The entire accounts of the Development Fund for Iraq will be posted on the internet and made available on a regular basis to the members of the international board,” Bremer said.
He said the CPA, in the absence of an agreement on the creation of the UN-mandated board until last week, had moved to hire its own independent auditor to go over the fund’s accounts and that its findings would be made public.
“There is absolutely no question about transparency,” Bremer told reporters at an international donors conference for Iraq at which the United States and others are expected to pledge billions in assistance.
“We are going to be completely transparent the funds are spent for the Iraqi people,” he said. “I have absolutely no qualms about it, I don’t think we have anything to apologize for. There are no secrets about it.”
Asked whether the criticism was unfounded, he replied: “Yes, correct.”
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Earlier Thursday as the conference opened here, the British-based charity Christian Aid alleged that four billion out of an estimated five billion dollars (3.4 billion out of 4.2 billion euros) believed to be in the fund have “disappeared into opaque bank accounts” administered by the CPA.
The group urged any potential contributor at the conference to demand explanations before pledging any additional assistance, claiming that “no independent body knows where this cash has gone.”
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It said the “financial black hole” would only fuel suspicions that large amounts of the money in the fund were being siphoned off for large US firms and not being channelled to deal with Iraq’s serious needs.
“The fact that no independent body knows where this cash has gone is in direct violation of the UN resolution that released much of it for the rebuilding of Iraq’s shattered infrastructure,” Christian Aid said.
Bremer admitted that the international board had not yet begun its work, despite having been mandated by the United Nations (news - web sites) shortly after the major part of the war ended.
But he blamed the delay on the membership of the board, which is supposed to include officials from the United Nations, World Bank (news - web sites) and Arab Development Bank and rejected charges that he and the CPA had obstructed its creation.
“That’s nonsense,” Bremer bristled when asked about the charge. “It is simply untrue to say we obstructed it. I’ve been anxious to get this board established.”
He said he had tried to get the board running in early August and again in September but when disagreements arose over the body’s “terms of reference” in conducting special audits, the membership refused to negotiate for six weeks.
“We heard nothing back from members of the board effectively until early October despite repeated efforts through our mission at the United Nations to get them to answer,” Bremer said.
That said, he stressed that an agreement on the board had been reached last week and that it would begin its work shortly, independently of the CPA’s own auditor.
“We have got an agreement,” Bremer said. “We have completely agreed that we are going to be fully transparent. We’re prepared to put all of it on the internet which anybody can review.”
and yet they want more. who is going to be accountable for all this money and its handling?