Iraq hunting $17 billion missing after US invasion

Iraq's parliament is chasing about $17 billion of Iraqi oil money it says was stolen after the 2003 US-led invasion and has asked the United Nations for help to track it down.

The missing money was shipped to Iraq from the United States to help with reconstruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

In a letter to the UN office in Baghdad last month, parliament's Integrity Committee asked for help to find and recover the oil money taken from the Development Fund of Iraq (DFI) in 2004 and lost in the chaos that followed the invasion.

"All indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion," said the letter sent to the UN with a 50-page report.
The committee called the disappearance of the money a "financial crime" but said UN Security Council resolutions prevent Iraq from making a claim against the United States.

"Our committee decided to send this issue to you ... to look into it and restore the stolen money," said the letter.

UN officials were not immediately available for comment.

SALARIES, PENSIONS

The DFI was established in 2003 at the request of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US body headed by Paul Bremer that governed Iraq after the invasion. The fund was to be used to pay the salaries and pensions of Iraqi government workers and for reconstruction projects.

In 2004, the administration of former US President George W Bush flew billions of dollars in cash into Iraq. The money came from the sale of Iraqi oil, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food program and seized Iraqi assets.

Last July, an audit report from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said the US Department of Defense was unable to account properly for $8.7 billion of Iraqi oil and gas money after the 2003 invasion.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Al Jazeera television on Sunday: "No one on the Iraqi side was controlling the work of Paul Bremer at that time. So I think the administration of the United States needs to give the answers for where and how this (money) was being used.

"We do understand that Iraqis are also engaged in such lack of transparency and corruption related to the Paul Bremer time in Iraq," he added.

Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraq's parliament speaker, said a committee was investigating what happened to some $20 billion of DFI money.

"Some of these funds were spent and are documented. But some do not have such documents," he said. "We as a parliament are working together with the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audits and with coordination of SIGIR to know where this money ended up."

The appeal to the United Nations could help Iraq recover its money by putting its case before the international community, said Bahaa al-Araji, the head of the Integrity Committee.

"We cannot sue the Americans. Laws do not allow us to do that. All we want is to get this issue to the UN," Araji said. "If this works, it will open the way for Iraq to restore its stolen money." In 2003, the CPA issued an order granting immunity to US personnel and institutions working in Iraq.

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Special report: Australia's big dig for foreign workers

 Lucille Lievaux, a 25-year-old French geologist, commutes to work on a plane, a 1,300-km journey from Australia's Indian Ocean city of Perth to the mining town of Karratha, a smudge of suburbia on the continent's barren northwest coast. 


Slim, blonde and passionate about her job, she sits in Karratha's busy single-storey airport, waiting for a jet to take her home. She has swapped her hard-hat and orange-striped overalls for a short-sleeved cotton top, jeans and sneakers. Wearing her sunglasses like a hair-band, she looks out of place in a departure lounge crowded mostly with unshaven men. 



Only the dirt beneath her short fingernails and tanned, weathered hands would suggest she has something in common. 


"Australia is like an El Dorado," says Lievaux, who came a year ago on a holiday. She now nets $5,000 a month, working two weeks out of every three at the Whim Creek prospect, an old open-cut copper mine dug out of the red rocky plain. 


"It's so easy, so easy to find a job here as a geologist."

And it's so hard for Australia to find enough workers like Lievaux to sustain its mining boom. The tightening labor market is driving up wages, and combined with the resurgent Aussie dollar, is putting pressure on the entire manufacturing sector. 


Lievaux may earn about $60,000 a year after tax and be chauffeured to work in a jet, but she is not particularly well paid by the standards of Karratha, an Aboriginal word meaning "good country, and other remote boom towns. 



A mine supervisor can earn in excess of $200,000, more than the head of the Federal Reserve. A truck-driver's salary easily runs into six figures. A construction worker can make over $150,000, more than a doctor or lawyer. 


"You can get girls cleaning at the mine camps and they can easily earn $100,000 a year," says Tracy Reis, 42, a travel agent based in Karratha. 


The reason for this labor shortage, and the sky-high wages that come with it, is simple: Australia, with a population of 22 million, does not have the workforce to exploit its enormous natural bounty -- at least not at the pace required to satisfy Asia's hunger for resources. 


The mining and resources industry, including oil and gas, has roughly $400 billion in new projects on the drawing board in Australia and will need another roughly 70,000 workers over the next five years alone, according to government estimates. 


The construction industry is projected to need another 196,000 workers over the same period, many of them associated with new mining and energy projects. 


The boom is just beginning and, already, labor is short -- not just for skilled jobs like geologists but also for unskilled work, creating a situation where even building laborers, cleaners, cooks and drivers are earning stratospheric wages. 


But rather than flinging open the doors to foreign guest workers to fill these lower-level jobs, as countries such as Singapore and Dubai have done, Australia is taking measured and, some economists say, inadequate steps to import overseas labor.

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Watch World Heritage special on Nat Geo

Beginning 11 June 2011 , The World Heritage Special* programming blocks will be available in 370 million homes across National Geographic Channel’s global network.

National Geographic Channel announced today that it has signed a ground-breaking sponsorship with Panasonic to bring a special programming block focused on UNESCO World Heritage sites to NGC viewers across five continents – Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Australia. National Geographic Channel is the broadcast arm of the National Geographic Society, one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations, that is respected for the quality of its programmes. Panasonic, is passionate about the natural environment as well as the cultures and traditions of the world, with its long-standing partnership with UNESCO to inspire the next generation about World Heritage conservation and environmental preservation. Under the terms of this 12-month agreement, the two are proud to showcase outstanding documentaries about UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Taj Mahal, Machu Pichu, Yellowstone National Park and Stonehenge. Beginning 11 June 2011 in India, the Panasonic Presents The World Heritage Special and The World Heritage Special* programming blocks will be available in 370 million homes across National Geographic Channel’s global network. In Asia, 170 million homes will enjoy the Panasonic’s The World Heritage Special block in more than 15 markets, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia / New Zealand, Middle East, India, Japan, Korea and more. "The quality of programming and the brand integrity offered by National Geographic Channel provides a perfect global platform to reach our target audience," said Mr. Alex Nunoya, General Manager, Advertising Group, Corporate Brand Strategy Division Panasonic Corporation. "We are confident that viewers will enjoy the special World Heritage series and we look forward to sharing with the world our passion for supporting and protecting some of the world’s most amazing places." "National Geographic Channel provides fact-based entertainment that informs, expands and inspires. The brand synergies that exist between Panasonic and National Geographic Channel make us an ideal platform for Panasonic to bring breathtaking programming on UNESCO World Heritage sites – some of the most stunning cultural and natural sites found on Earth – to new audiences," said Mr. Hernan Lopez, President and Chief Executive Officer of FOX International Channels. "We believe that National Geographic Channel’s innovative and educational brand equity will further strengthen Panasonic’s mission to educate people about World Heritage monuments." the Taj Mahal: The Taj Mahal: Symbol of India, architectural jewel, and monument to a grand passion. Built in the 17th century by the Great Mogul Shah Jahan in honor of Mumtaz Mahal, the love of his life. Before she died, legend says, Mumtaz Mahal made a wish for a mausoleum, more sublime than any the world had seen. Built on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra, it is said to have required over 20,000 workers including the best craftsmen of the Empire. Millions of bricks were baked on site only to disappear forever under flawless white marble. A heavenly memorial to the Queen of the World, or as a poet described it: "A teardrop on the cheek of time". A love poem set in stone and the most perfect building in the world.

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