Watchdog faults Iraqi control of oil

UNITED NATIONS - The Iraqi authorities are doing as sloppy a job managing their oil wealth as the American authorities did in the months after the United States-led invasion, an international watchdog agency said.

The criticisms come on top of accusations by US lawmakers and an independent UN investigation that the United Nations mismanaged a separate oil-for-food programme for Iraq under then-leader Saddam Hussein, pointing to years of abuse of Iraq's precious oil resources under three different masters.

The latest international audit of Iraq's oil account, covering the first six months of self-rule, found the new government making virtually all the same mistakes the US Coalition Provisional Authority made in the preceding months, said the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq.

Iraq's oil account, called the Development Fund for Iraq, was set up by the Security Council, along with the monitoring board, to watch over the stewardship of Iraq's natural resources during the US civil administration of Iraq, which began in May 2003 and ended on June 28, 2004.

The monitoring board's life was extended after an appointed transitional Iraqi government took over on June 29, 2004. The current elected government took power less than a month ago.

In a separate statement, the board noted "with regret" that the US Defence Contract Audit Agency, the Pentagon auditing arm, had tried to hide from it more than US$200 million ($285 million) in apparent overcharges in contracts paid for with Iraqi oil money and awarded on a noncompetitive basis to Halliburton once led by Vice President Dick Cheney.

- REUTERS