http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/October/focusoniraq_October155.xml§ion=focusoniraqWASHINGTON - More than half a billion dollars earmarked to fight the insurgency in Iraq has been stolen by people running the country’s Ministry of Defence before the 2005 elections, CBS News reported.
Citing Iraqi investigators, the television network said Sunday the United States and Britain are doing little to help recover the money or catch suspects, most of whom have fled the country.
An investigation conducted by the “60 Minutes” program has also turned up audio recordings of a suspect who seems to be discussing the transfer of 45 million dollars to the account of a top political adviser to the interim Defence minister of Iraq, the report said.
“We have not been given any serious, official support from either the United States or the UK or any of the surrounding Arab countries,” Ali Allawi, Iraq’s former finance minister, told the program.