More Happy News. It's a 400% increase!
A picture is worth almost $200,000,000 back in the pockets of the US Budget, and this is just the tip of the money recouped. This is just the SIGIR snapshot as of April, 2011. When you consider that from 2006-2008 only $50,000,00 is shown as recouped, this story deserves some legs.
Who'S SIGIR?
The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) is the successor to the Coalition Provisional Authority Office of Inspector General (CPA-IG).
SIGIR was created in October 2004 by a congressional amendment to Public Law 108-106 (55KB PDF), triggered by the June 28, 2004, dissolution of the CPA.
The amendment allows SIGIR to continue the oversight that CPA-IG had established for Iraq reconstruction programs and operations. Specifically, SIGIR is mandated with the oversight responsibility of the use, and potential misuse, of the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) and all obligations, expenditures, and revenues associated with reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in Iraq.
You might remember
Bremer's CPA and that from 2000 - 2004 the Senate and Congress were under GOP rule.
How can anyone forget this gem?
Further criticism was leveled at the CPA when it was revealed that $12bn. of cash had been delivered by C-130 planes, on shrinkwrapped pallets of $100 bills.[16] The cash deliveries were described in a memo prepared for the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which concluded that "Many of the funds appear to have been lost to corruption and waste.... Some of the funds could have enriched both criminals and insurgents...." Henry Waxman, the chair of the House committee commented, "Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone?" A single flight to Iraq on December 12, 2003 which contained $1.5 billion in cash is said to be the largest single Federal Reserve payout in US history according to Henry Waxman
The Democrats took over the House in 2005 and Henry Waxman must have worked around the clock.
Please remind those in your circle who think a GOP vote is in the better interest of the United States that the GOP governance is what doesn't work. They try to do things on the cheap, they put Ivy League idealogues into positions of responsibility that are functionally clueless, and they don't prosecute white collar, military, and contractor criminals.
SOME COMIC RELIEF
I have to be honest, I started out with a report about the case of
John L. Cockerham, 43, a major in the U.S. Army, was sentenced to 210 months in prison. He also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release following the prison term and to pay $9.6 million in restitution.
The John L. Cockerham & Family case would be a great case for 60 Minutes or Frontline to look into, imo. It's a rich story full of intrigue. I'd definitely go see the movie!
I fell into a huge rabbit hole. From what I have gleaned, and I could be wrong, this is the longest sentence given out to date for contract bribery. Scroll through the next link, on page 142-146, to review the list of cases.
Sigir Oversight, completed in April, 2011
This is a picture of John L Cockerham. He's in the prime of life. I think 20 years is too long. The two Bribery Buddies, Puerto Rican Senators I wrote about yesterday only got 4 years.
Cockerman's scheme was a family affair:
John Cockerham pleaded guilty in February 2008 to conspiracy, bribery and money laundering for his participation in a complex bribery scheme while working as an Army contracting officer in Kuwait in 2004 and 2005. Cockerham was responsible for awarding contracts for services to be delivered to troops in Iraq, including bottled water. Cockerham admitted that in return for awarding contracts, he received more than $9 million in bribe proceeds.
Once Cockerham agreed to take money in exchange for awarding contracts, he directed the contractors to pay his wife and sister, among others, in order to conceal the receipt of bribe payments.
There is no question of guilt. Cocker pled guilty as did his wife, sister, and niece. I can't find any "others." I'd be interested in you opinion of the Wikipedia version of his story.
What I can't figure out is why his sentence was so harsh? Perhaps it's based on quantity of bribery money, I don't know. But it is the largest in history for this type of crime.
Here's an associated case.
Iraq fraud inquiry focuses on retired Army Colonel, Anthony B. Bell:
As chief of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority’s contracting office from June 2003 to March 2004, Bell managed a critical arm of the U.S. presence in Iraq. The office awarded scores of contracts quickly to get the country back on its feet. At the time, there was almost no oversight on how huge sums of cash were being spent, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
That office, known as SIGIR, is involved in the current investigation along with the Justice Department, the Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Bell is also alleged to have received a multimillion-dollar payment from John Cockerham....
In the interview with AP, Bell denied accepting any bribes or payoffs from Cockerham. He did, however, offer a possible explanation for why his name might appear in Cockerham’s notebook: After leaving Iraq in 2004, Bell took over an Army contracting office at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In December 2005, following a long tour in Kuwait, Cockerham was assigned to Bell’s office. Bell said he contacted Cockerham and Cockerham’s former supervisors before he arrived to find out more about him just as anyone would do with a new employee.
I can't find any indictment for Colonel Bell or a conclusion to the investigation. He is still free and either cooperating or innocent.
Unless someone visits/interviews Cockerman in prison and he tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth we will probably never know the whole story. But I bet it's a doozy! ACLU?? Is this sentence in line with other sentencing for bribery?
BACK TO THREE CHEERS TEAM OBAMA
I will summarize my research today as follows:
In 2004 when SIGIR took over, the governments contract officer pool was grossly understaffed. Many military personnel got caught up in fraudulent behavior. Some were caught and are being or have been prosecuted. The number of convictions resulting in sentencing still seems a bit light; however, we don't know the facts.
A tidbit: Two people that were in the process of spilling the beans were shot in Iraq and Kuwait in unrelated shootings. Another also died, but I couldn't find the cause.
Are those charged with investigating and prosecuting given enough personnel and budget?
It seems that a lot of the convictions resulted in information given up by others instead of shoe leather investigations.
What is really disconcerting is the reality that Congress is STILL trying to get on top of this and that the problem lies within the Rumsfeld stripped down Pentagon:
Pentagon seeks to strengthen acquisition workforce, dated March 2, 2012
This sure sounds like a Rumsfeldian statement, in my opinion.
The Pentagon’s request for $274.2 million for the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund reflects its “continuing efforts to strengthen the acquisition workforce, which includes efforts to right-size and right-shape the workforce,” a department spokeswoman said in an email to Government Executive.
From the same www.govexec.com document:
The Obama administration’s early efforts to reverse its predecessor’s tendency to increase the use of outside contractors in acquisitions slowed toward the end of the tenure of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The acquisition reforms and guidance of the past three years were intended to hold contractors more accountable for providing value, she added. “We have not seen, nor do we expect to see, a substantial shift to in-house.”
To quote Dan Gordon, who left his post as Obama’s administrator for procurement policy in late 2011
“Almost every contracting challenge we face -- in particular, poor acquisition planning, unjustified sole-source contracts and inadequate oversight of contractors -- can be traced back to our failure during the 16 years before this administration to invest in the federal acquisition workforce,” he said.
“While I understand the reluctance to hire thousands of new federal employees, rebuilding our federal acquisition capability represents a sensible investment where money spent on hiring and training should pay off in terms of improved contracting, meaning a reduction in waste and fraud.”
But it is disconcerting that Obama appointed William Lynn, former Senior Vice President at Raytheon to the Department of Defense, considering that Raytheon ranks #5 on the Federal Contractor Misconduct Database!
As Deputy Secretary, Mr. Lynn would be involved in the process of budgeting and acquisitions, in addition to running the day-to-day operations of the Defense Department.
Well, maybe that can work in our favor. Not that Mr. Lynn is a thief, but the old adage "It takes a thief to catch a thief" could make sense and Raytheon isn't #5 on the Contractor Misconduct list for nothing.
Good grief! There are some things that don't pay to do on the cheap. The GOP have had too much power for too long!!!
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For those of you who would enjoy going into the weeds, here the weeds I have walked through today:
For instance, here's the list of the worst corporate fraudsters from POGO:
Federal Contractor Misconduct Database
2007 Fraud Probe http://www.armytimes.com/...
2009 Cockerham case
http://www.justice.gov/...
2009 3rd Defendent pleads guilty
http://www.justice.gov/...
2011 2 Contractors Indicted
http://www.nytimes.com/...
2007 Lee Dynamics International Banned from being contractor
http://www.nytimes.com/...
2008 Then Lee Dynamics International gets new contract (rolling eyes)
http://anabolicminds.com/...
2008 Lt Col Levonda Selph guilty
http://www.newshoggers.com/...
Sigir Webite
http://www.sigir.mil/
About Sigir
http://www.sigir.mil/...
Graph of Convictions, page 117, List of Cases pages 141-146 - It's a sorry tale, but you can read about all the progress in Iraq in this Sigir report. It's what The Hill is reading.
http://issuu.com/...
Open Statement investigation Waste, fraud abuse
http://www.govexec.com/...
Walter Resigns 2008
http://bizgov.wordpress.com/...
March 2, 2012 Indictment
http://www.govexec.com/...
March 1, 2012 Senators go after waste, fraud, abuse (yawn...snark)
http://www.govexec.com/...
2011 Sigir Report
http://www.govexec.com/...
2005 Sigir Report
http://www.sigir.mil/...
2006 Sub of KBR Iraq Fraud
http://www.justice.gov/...
2011 Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA, list of contractors disbarred/banned)
http://www.dcaa.mil/
Christopher Cahall, KBR subcontractor indicted
http://www.justice.gov/...
Christopher Cahall, KBR subcontractor sentenced to 3 years, $10,000 fine $1.4Mil fraud
http://www.joc.com/...
2011 Sigir report Section 5
http://www.sigir.mil/...
Coalition Provisional Authority overview
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Coalition Provisional Authority in-depth analysis
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/...