US probing Iraqi companies for insurance fraud

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Companies working on Iraq reconstruction have been accused of padding their profits through an insurance scam, leading to a criminal probe and hurried changes in the way many contracts are handled by the U.S. Army, according to internal military documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The investigation of two companies located in Tikrit — Sakar al-Fahal and al-Jubori — led the Army Corps of Engineers to scour its records for evidence of fraud by other contractors hired with billions of U.S. dollars to help rebuild Iraqi infrastructure devastated by the war, the documents reveal.

Whether Sakar al-Fahal and al-Jubori were paid for insurance they never obtained is a matter now being examined by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. The documents don’t state the total amounts in question.

Congress is looking into the problem, too. Concerned that the U.S. is footing the bill for phony or overstated insurance payments, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is to hold a hearing Thursday with witnesses from the Corps of Engineers, the Pentagon and the State Department.



Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/middle_east/view.bg?articleid=1094013&srvc=rss

[babylonsister]

1. Sure would be nice if the probed American companies first

because we know there's rampant ripping off going on. Oh, that's right. That's allowed.

[Mist]

2. Exactly--just who do these Iraqis think they are, being as corrupt as American

contractors? It's like "Trix is for kids"--"Corruption is for Americans!"