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Iraq's Chalabi:
Huge Amounts Misspent At Defense Ministry
DOW
JONES NEWSWIRES
December 6, 2005 1:59
p.m.
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BAGHDAD (AP)--Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi said
Tuesday that hundreds of millions of dollars were misspent at the Defense
Ministry during the term of his political rival, former Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi.
Chalabi said the ministry's budget for 2004 was 679 billion
dinars ($468 million), of which less than half was allocated for
purchases.
The deputy prime minister said contracts worth $1.126
billion were signed with a local Iraqi company called al-Ein to purchase
on behalf of the Iraqi government Russian-made helicopters, armored trucks
from Pakistan, armored vehicles from Poland, old weapons, and old flak
jackets. The ministry issued 35 checks from Iraq's Rafidain Bank to the
Iraqi company.
Chalabi said the director of al-Ein company transferred
$480 million from an account in Iraq to a personal account in Jordan. He
called King Abdullah II of Jordan to respond "to the Iraqi government's
demand to the Jordanian Finance Ministry" to reveal the bank account of
this person.
"Until this day, the Defense Ministry did not receive any
helicopters," Chalabi told reporters.
Accusations of corruption at the Defense Ministry aren't
new. The Associated Press reported in August that hundreds of millions of
dollars were misspent during former Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan's
tenure. He has strenuously denied the allegations.
Allawi's interim government was installed by the U.S. and
served until April.
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