Funds for SIGIR, agency charged with oversight of Iraq reconstruction, set to expire in March





Shaminder Dulai/San Antonio Express-News - Army Maj. John L. Cockerham is escorted into U.S. Federal Court for a sentencing hearing after he was convicted of taking $9.6 million in bribes while serving in Iraq, in the largest such bribery case to come out of the war in Iraq.

By Ernesto Londońo, Published: January 19

George Lee, a Kuwait-based U.S. defense contractor who was reaping millions as America’s quagmire in Iraq deepened, sent an e-mail to an Army major who awarded bids in Baghdad, warning her not to visit him.

“None of us want Uncle Sam, or anyone else, looking where they should not be looking,” he wrote in one of the trove of messages and intercepted phone calls that exposed the biggest fraud conspiracy from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


So far, 22 people have been indicted and $67 million has been recovered in that single scheme, which remains under investigation.

But the little-known agency that uncovered the scam is about to close its doors, even though Lee remains a fugitive and 91 additional criminal investigations into the disappearance of Iraq reconstruction funds remain unsolved.

The mandate and funding of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which was established in October 2004 and is known as SIGIR, expires in March. It will mark the end of an effort to document and fix the myriad failings of the most ambitious U.S. rebuilding effort since the Marshall Plan. The extent to which U.S. military personnel abused their positions during the war is a part of the legacy of the deeply unpopular conflict that has gone largely unnoticed.

“This is a tiny if disgraceful minority,” Stuart W. Bowen, the head of the agency said. “A lot of these cases came to light deep into the reconstruction experience, which by then had been recognized to have fallen short of its goals.”

The Kuwait scheme became the agency’s landmark case. But SIGIR investigators uncovered scores of other plots that could be turned into thrillers. There were corrupt officers ratted out by spurned wives. Military officials accepted first-class tickets from contractors so they could hide their exploits in bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and Thailand. One soldier mailed stolen cash wrapped in American flags. Another particularly clever attempt to haul stacks of stolen cash to the United States involved stitching them into a Santa Claus costume.

SIGIR’s criminal investigations, conducted with help from the FBI, the IRS and other federal agencies, have resulted in 81 convictions, including 47 military personnel. A few defendants are awaiting trial. Authorities have recovered more than $189 million.

Anyone who worked in Iraq during the heyday of reconstruction spending is unlikely to be surprised that many people were tempted to steal. U.S. officials came to see cash as a “weapon system” that could buy goodwill, forge alliances and alienate insurgents. There was loads of it, in bags, boxes and chests. With a widespread perception that oversight was lax, many saw the chance of a lifetime.

“There was so much money to be made at the time,” said Daniel F. Willkens, the agency’s head of investigations.

Maj. Gloria Davis was among those tempted, according to investigators and court documents. The Army officer met George Lee in Kuwait in 2003, soon after she was assigned to award military contracts for Iraq and he was trying to get a foothold in the rapidly expanding war economy. They became close after she awarded his company a contract for buses in January 2004.


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