New Iraq could become nest of corruption
By Paul McGeough in Baghdad
May 2, 2005
Over lunch of chicken and kebabs on a sultry Baghdad day, the Iraqi businessman Mohammed Jawad talks camels and corruption.
"Iraq is like a sick camel," he says. "If it is healthy, no one can kill it. But when it is sick on the ground, the camel dies by a thousand knives."
The knives are wielded by corrupt ministers and their cronies - tribal and family - who force local and foreign contractors to inflate tender bids for contracts worth billions of dollars so that they can gouge millions for themselves.
In a healthy, regulated economy, Mr Jawad might be dismissed as a whinger who cannot cut it in a competitive environment. But as the recipient of foreign aid worth close to $US100 billion ($128 billion), the corruption watchdog Transparency International is warning that the new Iraq could become "the biggest corruption scandal in history".
Mr Jawad taps into the economy at various levels. He is an engineer and builder, he supplies government departments and he represents foreign companies, like international airlines
"After I went to the Transport Ministry with a proposal for flights to Iraq from Scandinavia, I had a call from the minister's cousin to say that there would be no deal unless I paid a bribe of $US500,000," he says.
He cited the case of the electricity ministry in which he said a young fellow tribesman been appointed as the ministerial bagman.
"If you don't pay 5 or 6 per cent of the contract price on the side, you just get told that the ministry wants to work with a different company," Mr Jawad said.
Fellow contractors had told him about the manipulation of a recent tender: "The work was worth about $US15 million. But the minister's staff wanted a rake-off of about $US40 million - so they advised the bidder to inflate the price to $US70 million, so that they could have their cut and the bidder would make a good profit too."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/05/01/1114886253194.html
They will give Bush a run for his money I gaurantee,
Just think a Country losing maybe 100,000 souls for
a war declared of lies to the World Community
Run by a corrupt Bush Administration and a
corrupt Iraq Administration
By Paul McGeough in Baghdad
May 2, 2005
Over lunch of chicken and kebabs on a sultry Baghdad day, the Iraqi businessman Mohammed Jawad talks camels and corruption.
"Iraq is like a sick camel," he says. "If it is healthy, no one can kill it. But when it is sick on the ground, the camel dies by a thousand knives."
The knives are wielded by corrupt ministers and their cronies - tribal and family - who force local and foreign contractors to inflate tender bids for contracts worth billions of dollars so that they can gouge millions for themselves.
In a healthy, regulated economy, Mr Jawad might be dismissed as a whinger who cannot cut it in a competitive environment. But as the recipient of foreign aid worth close to $US100 billion ($128 billion), the corruption watchdog Transparency International is warning that the new Iraq could become "the biggest corruption scandal in history".
Mr Jawad taps into the economy at various levels. He is an engineer and builder, he supplies government departments and he represents foreign companies, like international airlines
"After I went to the Transport Ministry with a proposal for flights to Iraq from Scandinavia, I had a call from the minister's cousin to say that there would be no deal unless I paid a bribe of $US500,000," he says.
He cited the case of the electricity ministry in which he said a young fellow tribesman been appointed as the ministerial bagman.
"If you don't pay 5 or 6 per cent of the contract price on the side, you just get told that the ministry wants to work with a different company," Mr Jawad said.
Fellow contractors had told him about the manipulation of a recent tender: "The work was worth about $US15 million. But the minister's staff wanted a rake-off of about $US40 million - so they advised the bidder to inflate the price to $US70 million, so that they could have their cut and the bidder would make a good profit too."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/05/01/1114886253194.html
They will give Bush a run for his money I gaurantee,
Just think a Country losing maybe 100,000 souls for
a war declared of lies to the World Community
Run by a corrupt Bush Administration and a
corrupt Iraq Administration
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 5:56 PM
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