Corruption In Iraq & World

Iraq to File Lawsuits to Recover Oil for Food Embezzled funds

Iraq only recently joined the UN Convention on Corruption. "Signing up" means it is easier to track down, and prosecute corrupt officials in another country (if they also have signed the Convention).

Now, it seems Iraq is starting to move after all the folks who paid bribes or didn't provide what they agreed to for payments made from Saddam via the Oil for Food program.

We will watch this since the Volcker report named over 2,000 people or firms who paid bribes to Saddams people for Oil for Food sanctioned items. A famous one is the bad wheat that Australia's Wheat Board sent to Iraq after paying bribes.

Of course, the most interesting thing is to see what happens to recovered funds - will they just go into someone else's pocket? It is very possible, knowing the poor quality of Iraq's accounting systems and the unwillingness of the Finance Ministry to even use a new automated budget system installed by USAID contractors.
vj

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from the Los Angeles Times

Iraq to file oil-for-food lawsuit in U.S. courts

The legal action will target alleged fraud in the U.N. program under the Hussein regime.

By Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
10:23 AM PDT, June 29, 2008

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government announced today that it intends to file suit in United States courts to recover funds allegedly embezzled from the United Nations oil-for-food program during Saddam Hussein's rule.

A statement by government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the lawsuits would target companies and individuals that conspired to corrupt the U.N. program.

Dabbagh did not name any companies or say how much the government hoped to gain by going to court, but his statement cited the findings of a 2005 U.N. inquiry into the program.

That investigation, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker, concluded that 2,400 companies and individuals participated in fraud that included $1.8 billion in kickbacks to Hussein.

After the inquiry several of those named were prosecuted in the U.S. and Europe, resulting in prison sentences for two Texas oilmen and restitution from several companies totaling 10 of millions of dollars.

But little has been done to recover larger sums from those named in the Volcker report in countries including Russia, China, Yemen, Egypt, Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

The oil-for-food program was intended to allow humanitarian goods to reach Iraq while the country was under international sanctions following its invasion of Kuwait, which precipitated the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

From 1996 through the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Iraqi government was allowed to sell oil in exchange for food, medical supplies and essential mechanical equipment.

The Volcker report found that Hussein insisted that kickbacks be paid to secure oil contracts.

INTERPOL Becomes Growing Force in Anti-Corruption Efforts

INTERPOL is becoming a growing source of information on anti-corruption.

They hosted an International Conference on Corruption Related Crimes in 1998 in France.

They have a website section focused on Corruption HERE.

They also established a group of experts on corruption (IGEC) and are in the process of setting up the INTERPOL Anti-Corruption office (IACO) plus they are in the midst of raising $15-million to establish a 3-year budget for an Anti-Corruption Academy which will be in Austria.

It isn't clear to me whether they are just focusing on reduction of corruption in Police departments, which is a huge problem (i.e. an officer asking for a bribe to forgive a traffic ticket), or will they focus on the broader focus and incorporate anti-corruption into standard police work standards (and compete with established anti-corruption agencies in most countries).

See the website for more info: http://www.interpol.int/Public/Corruption/corruption.asp
vj

Wall St. Journal Update on Iraq Anti-Corruption Agency CPI

I will comment later - gotta go somewhere...

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from THIS WSJ page

Iraq's Anticorruption Efforts Hit Some Roadblocks
Conflicting Edicts, Poorly Trained Staff Hinder Key Agency
By GINA CHON
June 28, 2008; Page A5

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's anticorruption agency -- responsible for investigating allegations of stealing public funds and other malfeasance by government officials -- is continuing to stumble despite efforts to revive it.

Fighting corruption is key to rebuilding Iraq, both U.S. and Iraqi officials said, as the country turns its focus from security to providing basic services and promoting economic development. But the agency in charge of those efforts has been stymied, because of conflicting government directives, inadequately trained workers and other hurdles.

[Photo]
Associated Press
Former Defense Minister Hazem Shalaan (second from left) faced charges, but fled Iraq.

Last year, the agency lost its boss, Judge Rahdi Hamza al-Rahdi, who defected to the U.S., and work ground to a halt. Then came a 20% drop in the commission's active caseload, as many staff members became afraid and demoralized after losing Mr. Rahdi, whom they saw as their protector and advocate.

Other roadblocks arose. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had issued a directive allowing ministries to interfere with the work of the anticorruption agency, undermining its independence and authority. This led to a number of cases getting frozen and staff becoming more demoralized.

During its most active period, from 2004, when the organization was created by the Coalition Provisional Authority, to 2007, the commission had launched 3,000 investigations. About 100 cases went to court and resulted in convictions; the rest couldn't be fully processed because of lack of evidence.

Some of the cases included one involving former Defense Minister Hazem Shalaan, who was accused of embezzling $1 billion in military funds that had been allocated for buying weapons and other equipment. He has fled the country, and the case was dropped.

There have been some encouraging signs, such as Mr. Maliki's 18-point plan to fight corruption announced in January. A U.S. official in Baghdad said it remains to be seen whether the plan is implemented, but the government's move to create a program is a step forward compared with the past, when security concerns trumped anticorruption efforts.

"If the commission didn't exist, there would be even more corruption, and government officials would be stealing even more money than they already do," Mr. Rahdi said in a recent interview from his home in Virginia.

Iraq has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, and Mr. Maliki highlighted the importance of fighting corruption during a meeting of donor countries and the U.N. in May. A government spokesman reiterates that tackling corruption is a priority.

But U.S. officials and members of the commission said that isn't enough. Last year, the commission's work became hamstrung by several government directives. One order allows ministers to block the prosecution of officials in their relevant ministry. Mr. Maliki's office also issued a letter last year saying the agency, the Commission on Public Integrity, needed to get his consent before it forwarded any cases to the courts that involved the president, prime minister, and past or current ministers.

U.S. officials tried to persuade the Iraqi government to cancel the directives but were unsuccessful, the U.S. official said.

The commission's work has been criticized by many top government officials, who accuse the agency of being overzealous. If the agency were successful, it would be able to openly hold government officials accountable for corruption, but this hasn't been the case. The former head of the agency, Mr. Rahdi, received numerous threats because he criticized Mr. Maliki's government for rampant corruption. Eventually, along with the commission's head of security and chief investigator, he fled to the U.S. seeking asylum.

The commission also has had quick turnover of chiefs within six months. Currently, Judge Rahim al-Ugaili has been appointed as interim chief. Some commission staff members said he has good intentions but isn't strong enough to withstand the pressure.

"We are already risking our lives by working on these cases, but no one seems to want to help us," said one commission employee, who has received death threats and didn't want to be named.

Mr. Ugaili said the commission is trying to rebuild itself, but a problem is the lack of qualified staff. Of the commission's 1,285 employees, most have an elementary- or high-school education. He said they are receiving fewer tips than before, a sign the public has lost faith in the agency's ability to fight corruption.

Commission staff also said government obstruction continues to hinder progress on certain cases. An investigation into whether Defense Ministry officials received a bribe for a $114 million contract to buy batons and riot shields has stalled. The Defense Ministry said it won't provide any documents related to weapons purchases or other contracts, according to a document the ministry sent to the anticorruption commission.

A ministry spokesman recently defended the contract, saying the Iraqi military needs all kinds of equipment and it has the right to keep contracts to itself because it is sensitive information.

Meanwhile, commission members and others working on anticorruption efforts continue to face threats. In the past month, two deputy inspector generals have been slain and an auditor at the Ministry of Trade has been attacked. A total of 35 commission staff members have been killed, and that doesn't count staff who have been kidnapped or family members who have been killed.

"The U.S. and the Iraqi government are spending billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq, but where is that money going?" a commission employee said. "We want to tell people what is really going on, but it's useless now."

Write to Gina Chon at gina.chon@wsj.com

Price Fixing Case Settled Against Major International Airlines

Price Fixing is really part of corporate corruption, where the organization, not an individual, gains profits.

The article below talks about a SECOND round of international airlines convicted of price fixing. When I first read the names of the airlines, I wondered why British airways wasn't mentioned, because I don't believe the British yet have country standards against such practices.

But, then you read further and BA was in the first round of convictions, including Korean Airlines.

Price fixing means everyone gets around a table and sets market share as well as prices, so all the participants make fat profits without having to cut prices to compete. In this case, it was pricing for air cargo shipments.

In the 1970's, I worked at a US construction materials company, but we were owned by a British firm, and they appointed their own president. When we were running into price competition in Houston, he asked why we couldn't just get the competitor to a table and set prices and market share "like we do in the UK" to maintain profit margins.

Our company had to send the new UK president to a three day course on anti-trust and anti-competition laws in the US to get him up to speed about why we couldn't do that here. He always looked down on the US operations after that due to his disdain for restrictive laws that reduced the ability to do backdoor deals. The parent company was huge, and used to competing via backdoor deals, and not improved efficiency practices.

We still made money anyway using old fashioned competitive business practices, and were later sold to an Australian firm.
vj

Lessons Learned:
- Don't allow conditions to exist that allow price fixing.
- BUT, if you are competing against foreign firms who DO practice price fixing and bribe paying, you need to know about it, and have a strategy to compete. (One strategy is to turn them in to authorities, if laws exist to prevent such practices).

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from THIS WashintonPost.com source

By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 27, 2008; Page D03

Four international airlines agreed to plead guilty and pay $504 million in criminal fines to settle charges that they conspired to fix air cargo rates, the Department of Justice said yesterday.

Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which operate under common ownership, agreed to pay $350 million in total fines. Associate Attorney General Kevin J. O'Connor, who announced the plea agreements, said the Air France-KLM fine was the second-largest in a criminal antitrust investigation by the department.

In addition, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways agreed to a fine of $60 million, Dutch carrier Martinair agreed to pay $42 million, and Denmark's SAS Cargo Group agreed to a $52 million fine to settle similar charges. The settlement was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and is subject to a judge's approval.

The guilty pleas are the latest to arise from a multinational antitrust investigation into the air transportation industry by investigators on both sides of the Atlantic. In yesterday's filing, the government accused the carriers of trying to artificially set prices for base cargo rates as well as fuel and other surcharges in e-mails and during meetings in the United States and Europe.
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O'Connor said the conspiracy, which began as early as 2001 and continued through 2006, affected billions of dollars in shipments of consumer goods, including electronics, clothing, produce and medicines.

"These enforcement actions demonstrate the antitrust division's successful efforts to aggressively investigate and prosecute illegal cartel activity -- here and abroad -- in order to ensure that American consumers and businesses are not harmed by illegal anticompetitive activities," O'Connor said.

In separate statements, the chief executives of Air France, KLM, SAS and Cathay said their companies had taken steps to comply with U.S. antitrust laws. Officials at Martinair could not be reached for comment. The fines come at a time when high oil prices are causing many airlines to cut routes, trim workforces and consolidate.

"We have taken thorough steps across the organization to prevent recurrence, as Air France is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance," Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman and chief executive of Air France, said in a statement.

The announcement yesterday follows several investigations of other carriers. In August, British Airways and Korean Airlines pleaded guilty and each paid $300 million in fines for their roles in fixing prices on air fuel surcharges for passengers, who were charged an extra $110 per ticket in 2006 for round-trip fares. U.S. carriers have not been implicated.

Qantas Airways has pleaded guilty to price-fixing and paid a $61 million fine, and Japan Airlines pleaded guilty to the same and paid a $110 million fine, according to the Justice Department. A Qantas executive agreed to serve eight months in jail for his role in the conspiracy.

O'Connor said the Justice Department's investigation is ongoing. The European Commission is conducting a separate investigation into carriers' air cargo operations. O'Connor declined to say whether U.S. airlines could face charges in that investigation.

Wall St. Journal Columnist on Evils of Outsourcing in Iraq and Elsewhere

This opinion article provides an interesting perspective.

However, the "contractors" I saw in Iraq were hard working "subject matter experts" and they stayed 12 or more months. In contrast, Air Force officers and enlisted were there only 3 months, and Navy for 6-months, which really reduced efficiencies. And, most contractors had higher level technical skills than some career Federal employees. Outsourcing isn't bad if you have GOOD program managers to provide oversight.

The columnist mentions that Blackwater is doing the work of the Marines. The Marines I saw were all about 18-20 years old, and the Blackwater people were from Delta Force, etc. and probably had 10-20 years of experience. Even now, the State Dept. still uses Blackwater because they are effective and use the cream of the crop. Later, however, State renegotiated some other security contracts, and younger, less experienced "security" people were used and they made me nervous.

PS: The journal had lots of comments in a forum about this article, and most disagreed, and gave examples of government inefficiency compared to work done by contractors.
vj

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from THIS Wall St. Journal source

THE TILTING YARD
By THOMAS FRANK

Conservatives and Their Carnival of Fraud
June 25, 2008; Page A13

I wonder if, back in the rosy-fingered dawn of our conservative era, all those Adam Smith-tied evangelists of "limited government" had any idea that they were greasing the skids for a character like 22-year-old arms dealer Efraim Diveroli?

Mr. Diveroli, whose tousled, slightly confused visage recalls the perpetually stoned Jeff Spicoli from the 1982 film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," was the improbable recipient of a 2007 government contract to supply ammunition to our allies in Afghanistan.

The trouble was the munitions he sold were, like, seriously bogus. Old and partially defective, the stuff apparently originated in China, which is a Pentagon no-no. Mr. Diveroli was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida on Friday on numerous counts, including allegedly attempting to defraud the government.

How could a kid barely able to buy beer secure a nearly $300 million defense contract? It will be interesting to find out. Maybe Mr. Diveroli's story will be the one that finally fixes public attention on the carnival of fraud, waste and profiteering that characterizes our system of government-by-contractor. Maybe it will finally persuade us to ask our politicians why it is that they hire Blackwater to do the job of the Marines and pay Kellogg Brown and Root to arrange the logistics for the Army wherever it goes.

And maybe it will finally call into question one of the greatest shibboleths of conservative governance. Although contracting-out has been celebrated by big thinkers from both parties and although it has been practiced in some form or other since the earliest days of the republic, an ideological commitment to outsourcing is one of the signatures of conservative rule.

The ostensible justifications for it, in the early days, were thrift and efficiency. The 1984 "Grace Commission," in which a battalion of corporate executives ransacked the government looking for waste, recommended privatizing federal operations as a way to save money. With the government plunged deep into deficit, government needed to hire out its duties to business in order to save itself.

The ideological assumption was only barely concealed: Whatever "big government" could do, the private sector could do better, cheaper and faster.

There was another unspoken ideological angle: Every federal job privatized was a job pried from the grip of the hated Washington bureaucracy. Every dollar contracted out meant that much less for bureaucrat unions and that much more for friendly companies, well-connected lobbyists and corporate political action committees.

In the Bush era, the idea was pushed to a sort of extreme, with each of our great national initiatives – the Iraq occupation, Katrina reconstruction and the Department of Homeland Security – largely entrusted to private contractors. We now often read about federal employees quitting to work for private contractors to do the same job as before for twice the pay.

We also read about efforts to shut down or outsource the agencies charged with scrutinizing outsourcing. Last week, the New York Times reported on the travails endured by one of the Army's chief contracting officials who says he became suspicious of huge, sketchy expenses being run up by KBR in Iraq. When he threatened to withhold future payments from the company – harsh toke, dude! – he quickly found himself out of the loop; the Army contracted out his job to a company that accepted KBR's numbers.

One fact about government outsourcing is settled: It sure doesn't save money. A Washington Post reporter who scrutinized Katrina reconstruction contracts in 2006 found that "the difference between the job's actual price and the fee charged to taxpayers ranged from 40 percent to as high as 1,700 percent." To cover damaged roofs with tarps, certain contractors billed the government $1.50 per square foot of roof covered; some of the people who actually did the work got under 10 cents per square foot. Guess who kept the difference.

Privatization also constitutes a fundamental change in the constituency to which government answers. Journalist Tim Weiner estimates that, by 2006, about half of the people working for the CIA in Iraq and the National Counterterrorism Center were contractors, former CIA personnel accountable not to the American public but to their employers. "The spectacle of jumping ship in the middle of a war to make a killing was unremarkable in twenty-first century Washington," he writes in his book, "Legacy of Ashes." Among the CIA's new hires, he reported, the saying is, "Get in, get out, get paid."

The days when conservatives railed against red tape and shrieked for efficiency in Washington now seem like a lifetime ago. When they finally got the opportunity to put their theory into practice, conservatives contrived instead one of the most wasteful systems ever seen.

It is time for a new Grace Commission, this one examining the sordid history of privatization in all its details. President Barack Obama should launch it on day one.

Write to Thomas@wsj.com

Largest Bribery Case in Iraq Reconstruction Disclosed - $9-million

The article below is pretty specific, so read it.

When I was in Iraq, a number of the contracts were missing any paragraph specifying that any requests for bribes were to be disclosed to a hotline, so I am guessing that the bribe payers didn't have to sign the normal contract wording I saw later that contained a clause prohibiting bribes, and what to do about it.

The article isn't clear where the bribe taking Major worked from, but I am guessing he was in the military procurement center in Kuwait (since some of the bribe receipts were stored there), which has been the focus of many investigations. I believe the Kuwait procurement office focused on Iraq military contracts (not reconstruction which was done through a center in Baghdad's Green Zone.)

We have previously written about all the missing controls in the Baghdad reconstruction procurement process, and Kuwait seems to have had the same problem.
vj

Favorite Quote:

The case kicked off a widespread investigation into how the Pentagon procures goods and services in the Iraq war. An Army oversight commission found there were poor checks and balances in place and a need to hire more skilled contracting officers.

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From THIS Washington Post page

2 Plead Guilty to Army Bribery Scheme

By Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008; A09

An Army contracting officer has pleaded guilty to involvement in a $9 million procurement scandal in which his wife was accused of carrying shopping bags full of cash to banks in the Middle East. Investigators say it is the largest bribery case out of the war in Iraq.

Maj. John Cockerham, 43, of San Antonio, pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy and money laundering. Cockerham's wife, Melissa Cockerham, 41, also pleaded guilty to money laundering. His sister Carolyn Blake, 45, of Sunnyvale, Tex., who was also allegedly involved in the scheme, is scheduled for trial in October on charges of money-laundering and conspiracy.

The Cockerham case reads in part like a spy novel, with $300,000 in cash delivered in a Kuwait parking lot. Handwritten ledgers, using such code names as "Mr. & Mrs. Pastry," recorded who had paid money. The case kicked off a widespread investigation into how the Pentagon procures goods and services in the Iraq war. An Army oversight commission found there were poor checks and balances in place and a need to hire more skilled contracting officers.

John Cockerham told prosecutors that starting in 2004, he was involved in a complex bribery and money-laundering scheme while being deployed to Kuwait. In exchange for awarding illegal contracts for such supplies as bottled water, he received more than $9 million in bribes. Investigators have said he expected to get $5.4 million more.

Once he agreed to take the money, Cockerham told the contractors to pay his wife, his sister and others. His wife admitted that she accepted more than $1 million in bribe payments on her husband's behalf. She allegedly carried the cash in shopping bags and deposited the money in safe-deposit boxes at banks in Dubai and Kuwait.

The couple lived modestly in a house on an Army base in San Antonio and were described as being involved with their three children and their church.

John Cockerham faces up to 40 years in prison; his wife could face as much as 20 years, plus fines.

Cockerham and his wife made the plea agreements in January, but the deals were kept under seal until yesterday because the couple is cooperating with investigators, who are continuing to investigate others who might be involved in the scheme.

The Army has said it is pursuing more than 90 criminal probes involving contract fraud and abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Iranian Corruption is Dragging Down Credibility of Religion

It seems that since Iran is a nationalized, socialistic country where the government owns everything, religious rulers run the government, corruption is a fact of life and residents are starting to resent it.

It also seems that if religious leaders are involved in running a corrupt government, they risk losing credibility with the public, because encounters with corrupt officials link their actions with the religious rulers.

Lessons Learned:
- If you are a religious ruler, don't allow corruption, because by allowing it, if affects the credibility of your religion.
vj

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from this link
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/06/0ad6e0d8-a45e-486c-b07e-740066adeb8b.html

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Iran: High-Level Corruption Becomes National Obsession

By Iraj Gorgin

Iran --Abbas Palizdar, head of investigation in Parliament on Judiciary, 2008
Abbas Palizdar set off a storm of controversy with his accusations
(RFE/RL)
Many Iranians believe the country's miserable economic situation is a byproduct of mismanagement and widespread corruption at the top.

Iran, the world's third-largest oil exporter, sold its crude last week for $136 a barrel. So the question on the lips of people in the streets is: Where's all this money going?

The answer, it seems, lies at the top.

Though Iranians are traditionally suspicious of their government and believe corruption is always in fashion among the ruling class, it was a little-known government functionary who kindled the fire of the public's latest obsession with suspected high-level corruption.

Abbas Palizdar claimed to be a member of the body commissioned by parliament to probe the judiciary. In late May, in a speech and interviews, he accused senior religious leaders and politicians, including former President Ali Abkhar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, of deep involvement in corruption.

Palizdar's remarks not only landed him in jail, they sparked a storm of controversy that continues to rage. He reiterated his charges on June 9 in an interview with Radio Farda.

"Yes, I spoke based on documents and evidence [that I have]," he said. "There are many more cases that I will reveal in the future. Everything that I said -- if [the government] didn't add anything to it -- is based on proof and documents."

Palizdar's accusations took many people by surprise.

At first, no one even acknowledged knowing him. Officials then called him an imposter, claiming no one had been assigned to probe the judiciary. A few days later, after he reiterated his accusations to the media, Palizdar was arrested and charged with spreading lies and slander.

At the same time, the Inspector-General's Office acknowledged that members of the Majlis, or parliament, had in fact presented Palizdar to the judiciary for the purpose of having him inspect and probe their legal records.

The incident became the talk of the country. In Tehran, some 200 protesters gathered in support of Palizdar, many of them briefly detained after clashing with police. Meanwhile, judiciary officials announced that 11 people, most of them government employees, had been indicted, and some arrested, in connection with Palizdar's comments.

Weapons Of Political Struggle

It all provided grist to the mill for those who are convinced that the ruling class -- in any guise and garb -- is corrupt. They say Palizdar's comments revealed nothing new. Others, however, claim that his comments were part of a conspiracy by a group in the government aimed at discrediting their rivals.

Some went even further, specifying that Palizdar's remarks were the first step in a bid by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his military supporters to smear rivals and prevent them from running in future elections by targeting them as corrupt.

Nehmat Ahmadi, a well-known lawyer in Tehran, tells Radio Farda that Palizdar either has powerful backing in the government or a very strong death wish.

"What he says is a kind of suicide," Ahmadi says. "If he wants to kill himself, that's natural. He knows that they will take him and put him in jail -- and that if they don't kill him, he will face a very harsh punishment."

Former President Rafsanjani is still a very influential political force (AFP) True or false, conspiracy or not, the accusations made by Palizdar seemed to gain a life of their own in recent days, becoming a red-hot subject of attack and counterattack for all political factions against each other.

Some analysts say this incident has brought to the surface the most important political issue in today's Iran: that is, the bitter power struggle between "old" and "new" revolutionary conservatives.

"The Iranian neoconservatives -- the new generation of conservatives that after the second election of city councils appeared on Iran's political scene -- took over the seventh parliament and grabbed the presidency," says Hossein Bastani, an exiled Iranian journalist who edits a popular Persian website in Paris. "This is a generation that feels they are there to radically change the structure of the Islamic republic and give the most important jobs to those whom they consider competent -- not the old, traditional conservatives."

Palizdar's corruption allegations singled out some of Iran's most influential religious figures, whom devoted Iranians consider pillars of the revolution. Professor Fereidoon Khavand, who teaches economics in Paris, says such talk is making Iran's economic situation worse because it weakens the confidence of merchants and local investors. In his opinion, the controversy is a key example of why religious leaders should stay out of the political fray.

"Shi'ism is a part of Iranian identity, whether we like it or not," Khavand says. "I was deeply sorry when I saw that the names of the most important religious leaders are mentioned as allegedly taking part in activities such as possession of mines and cars, favoritism, bribery, and so on. All this confirms that giving religion a role in political affairs is a bad idea."

Corrupt System Of Ownership

But Ahmadi, the lawyer, sees positives in the affair. He says regardless of whether the accusations were politically motivated, they have shone a light on an unseemly side of Iran's political and economic system.

"We could find [the roots] of corruption in the ownership system of Iran," he says. "The government owns everything: water, power, land, and sea. Everything you can imagine. In a system of ownership like that, corruption comes naturally."

Meanwhile, some want to see Palizdar's accusations investigated further. Borna, a government news agency, asked, "Why is nobody concentrating on the accusations while attacking Palizdar's background and personality?"

Khavand also thinks further investigation is warranted. "Corruption is a byproduct, a secondary thing," he says. "What is behind the corruption is Iran's economic and political system. Those are more important. So instead of focusing on why he [Palizdar] said such things and what are the sources, I guess we have to find out why corruption has such a wide dimension in Iran."

Last week, the fiercest battle of ideas about corruption and Palizdar's comments took place between Ahmadinejad's presumptive rival in next year presidential election and newspapers such as "Kayhan," which strongly back the hard-line president.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the charismatic mayor of Tehran, wrote in his blog that "just talking about corruption and accusing people without any basis is by itself corruption and the main crisis of today's Iran is that morality is absent from the political scene."

In response, pro-Ahmadinejad newspapers attacked Qalibaf. But they may have missed a key sentence he also wrote: "Don't chop down a tree branch if you're sitting on it."

Army Requests Five new Procurement Generals to Improve Foreign Procurement Systems

WE have periodically reported on contracting fraud in Iraq, and not long ago, the Army initiated a heavy duty investigation into contract fraud in the Army's procurement office in Kuwait.

Now the Army is asking for five new General positions to focus on procurement, and at least initially, they were turned down by the White House's budget arm, the OMB. I think they have a good idea, and maybe the OMB thinks they should take some existing generals out of the existing pool and make them procurement specialists.

This request came after a recent testimony by the DoD IG's office before Congressman Waxman's oversight committee about billions in undocumented payments for Iraq purchases.

When I was in Iraq, the reconstruction contracting operation there was run (and probably still is) by the PCO, Purchasing & Contracting Office, which focused mostly on the big construction projects, and not the work process for $4-billion in materials ordered by reconstruction project managers.

The article below says the Army does not have any procurement oriented Generals, but when I was in Iraq, they assigned a Brigadier General to run the contracting office (not PCO, which manages the contracts) which negotiates and approves vendors and who gets the contract. That BG lived in the other end of my two man trailer, and he was always working LONG HOURS on big contract negotiations, and I could hear some of their phone discussions in my work site in the Palace when they had to use the speaker phone. Later his group moved to the PCO compound, and his group was expanded to be a "Command" over Iraq and Afghanistan contracting. Compared to most generals, who were focused on battle unit operations, he seemed to be a very competent professional.

But, I agree with the article below, the Military is no matrix operation, but hierarchical, and they all follow rank. If you don't have a general on your side, you end up deferring to the side of the one that does. In my attempts to get improvement in reconstruction procurement systems, I tried going through our own two star Major General in the reconstruction office to get contract quality control improvements in the above mentioned contracting office, but he balked when I gave him a list of all the evidence and backlash I had received from Lt. Colonels and Colonels in PCO and in the Contracting office. The MJ was focused on reconstruction implementation in Falujah, etc. and didn't want to spend time on bureaucratic issues. That is part of the problem - the Military seems to require any Colonel who wants to move up to get a Master's degree, but they don't get it in business or professional areas (except engineering, which the Corps of Engineers pushes). Thus, even someone with my 20 years of experience in accounting controls can't get a general to understand business systems and needed improvements so they would back improvements and reduce the horrendous number of frauds, corruption and mismanagement losses in Iraq.

The military also doesn't seem to rely upon or expect 21st century management control systems over processes AND productivity. The ONLY item they seemed to track in the Iraq reconstruction procurement office was number of contracts processed per month. There were no reports to evaluate QUALITY of the contract data (wrong emails, phones, etc.) and NO REPORTS to determine average and target processing time. There also were no reports tracking whether the number of procurement requests completed by the preceding finance group matched the number entered into their system (thus many contracts "sat" in the Finance system and didn't get processed at all.

Not long ago, I read where the military has realized the officer corps does not have expertise in business systems, and they are starting to send officers to business related short courses at major business schools. In my opinion, they may need more MBA's and fewer engineers. Most military are used to structured business systems, but Iraq was unstructured, so they didn't have anyone who could recognize missing controls and implement them.

Lessons Learned to Fix the Broken Military Procurement Systems in Foreign Countries

1) The DoD needs to focus on improving business systems by mandating some generals have business (MBA) and professional degrees and focusing on those areas, rather than just working in such areas for short times "to get experience". They probably need to go OUTSIDE and hire some heavily experienced civilians and MAKE them Generals if the current Generals won't learn business systems.

2) DoD needs to create a specialized unit that focuses on building unstructured business systems like reconstruction programs and procurement systems in foreign countries where they have to integrate information from different systems and work with local nationals and civilians and NGO's to get things done. The unit should be VERY skilled in building unstructured systems that may not use military processes, software or forms, but still need to include professional level controls and management reports to measure productivity and detect problems.

3) DoD needs to develop quality control processes and productivity benchmarks for all procurement processes and ensure the reports are printed and reviewed each week to detect problems. This should be done for the ENTIRE procurement process from point of customer purchase requests to final delivery of materials and payments.

vj

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from THIS source

White House denies Army's pitch for more brass

By RICHARD LARDNER – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army's march to overhaul its tarnished contracting system has been slowed by an unlikely foe: the White House.

The Office of Management and Budget, President Bush's administrative arm, has shot down a service plan to add five active-duty generals who would oversee purchasing and monitor contractor performance.

The boost in brass was a key recommendation from a blue-ribbon panel that last fall criticized the Army for contracting failures that undermined the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, wasted U.S. tax dollars, and sparked dozens of procurement fraud investigations.

As the Army's contracting budget ballooned — from $46 billion in 2002 to $112 billion in 2007 — it had too few experienced people negotiating and buying equipment and supplies, according to the panel. Worse still, there wasn't a single Army general in a job with contracting responsibilities. That meant the profession had little clout at a critical time.

Senior officers are needed to make sure past mistakes are not repeated, said the panel, chaired by former Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler.

"If a contracting person has to say to a general that they have to follow the rules, it's easier if you have your own general who will back you up," says David Berteau, a panel member and a former Defense Department official.

Having generals in contracting jobs also will build the talent pool by showing junior soldiers that contracting is a promising career path.

The increase would generate a modest $1.2 million per year in personnel costs. But the Army already has more than 300 full-time generals, enough, it's been told, to handle any new demands.

The panel called for two major generals and three brigadier generals. One of the major generals, who wear two stars, would run a newly established Army Contracting Command. Formation of the command was another of the Gansler panel's recommendations.

The second two-star general would be assigned to a senior staff position at the Pentagon.

Two of the brigadier generals, who wear a single star, would also be assigned to the contracting command while the third would become chief of contracting at the Army Corps of Engineers.

According to a May 28 report to Congress on the status of the recommendations, Army Secretary Pete Geren said a proposal for five extra generals was submitted in March to OMB for approval. The office's role is to ensure proposed budgets and legislation are consistent with the administration's policies.

On May 12, the Army learned its proposal had been rejected. The report does not say why. A week after the rejection, the Army appealed OMB's decision.

OMB spokeswoman Corinne Hirsch said Wednesday the office is "internally deliberating" the proposal and would not discuss the reasons for the initial rejection.

Lt. Col. Martin Downie, an Army spokesman, said Thursday that communications between the Army and OMB are "pre-decisional and not releasable to the public at this time."

Generals are carefully controlled commodities; federal law prescribes how many each military branch may have. The Army has 306 generals leading nearly 525,000 troops. More than 240 of those are one- and two-star officers.

Adding a brigadier general to the ranks costs roughly $217,000 a year in pay, benefits and retirement contributions; a major general costs $261,000 annually.

The Army opened the Contracting Command three months ago. Jeffrey Parsons, a senior Army civilian official with heavy contracting experience, was picked to run it. Parsons will be in charge "until an appropriately skilled and experienced (major general) is available to assume command," the Army's report to Congress said.

The Army is also adding 1,400 military and civilian employees to its contracting work force. A purchasing office in Kuwait that had been identified as a hub of corruption has been revamped.

In the complex world of military acquisition, contracting is a specialized occupation. Contracting personnel negotiate with vendors, translate jargon-filled requirements for equipment and services into sensible descriptions, and oversee the deals to be sure the Army gets what it ordered.

The war in Iraq exposed major flaws in the Army's contracting abilities, particularly when the buying was done outside the United States. An overworked, under-experienced, and short-handed Army contracting staff was unable to meet the fast-paced demands for supplies and services. Bad deals were made and procurement fraud cases mounted in an environment prone to abuse.

Defense contractors, frequently criticized for war profiteering, complained of being pushed to accept flat-fee arrangements in high-risk combat zones where expenses could soar and confusion existed over what U.S. laws and regulations applied.

Collectively, the shortcomings created a "perfect storm," according to the panel.

Since 2005, the Army Criminal Investigation Command has opened 168 investigations related to contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, according to spokesman Chris Grey. Ninety-five of those cases are ongoing. Of the 73 that have been closed, the subjects were indicted, the allegations turned out to be false, or the inquiry ended because of a lack of evidence.
On the Net:

* http://www.army.mil/

Good Grief Charley Brown! - US Military halts foreign aid to Iraq town due to Corruption!!

I have been preaching since 2005 that the US needs to stop giving foreign aid to Iraq or other countries unless they clean up corruption. Why throw money at a corrupt organization that siphons some or all away?

So, now the AP reports that the US Military (not the State Dept. or USAID) halted reconstruction spending in an Iraqi town, Hit, due to the corrupt officials there. I am guessing the US military was using funds from the CERP program, and not funds through USAID since the Military, not State or USAID was quoted.

Hallelujah!!

Maybe State and USAID can learn from this??

Updated June 22, 2008 - We found the longer, original AP article and added it below the first article.vj
vj

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Click here for the Kansas City Star source.

Posted on Fri, Jun. 20, 2008
Iraq reconstruction projects on hold for corruption investigation
By CHELSEA J. CARTER
The Associated Press

FALLUJAH, Iraq | U.S.-funded reconstruction in a one-time Sunni insurgent stronghold has been suspended because of a corruption probe.

The probe includes allegations that the mayor and the police chief were involved in a multimillion-dollar oil smuggling ring.

The problems in Hit, a dusty, ramshackle western town, provide a glimpse of the challenges in rebuilding a country where years of war and misrule have destroyed the social fabric.

Reconstruction is a key part of the U.S. military strategy against both Sunni and Shiite extremists. Once U.S. and Iraqi troops subdue militants in a town or district, the next step is to begin programs to improve the quality of life to undermine support for the militants among the civilian population.

But many projects have long been dogged by mismanagement and allegations of corruption.

The U.S. government suspended its efforts in Hit this month after the police chief, Col. Salah Rasheed al-Gaoud, was fired for his alleged role in diverting oil intended for storage tankers and then selling the fuel on the black market, U.S. and Iraqi officials familiar with the investigation said.

Officials also confirmed that the mayor, Hikmat Jubair al-Gaoud, was under investigation.

Among the reconstruction projects that have been suspended are repairs to the town’s dilapidated infrastructure, including street repairs, sewage upgrade and school construction.

U.S. military officials said reconstruction projects in Hit would remain on hold during the investigation, which Iraqis said was being conducted by the Ministry of Interior.
© 2007 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com

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from THIS AP page

AP Exclusive: Probe halts rebuilding of Iraqi city

By CHELSEA J. CARTER – 1 day ago

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — U.S.-funded reconstruction in a one-time Sunni insurgent stronghold has been suspended because of a corruption probe, including allegations that the mayor and police chief were involved in a multimillion-dollar oil smuggling ring, The Associated Press has learned.

The problems in Hit, a dusty, ramshackle western town along the Euphrates River, provide a glimpse of the challenges in rebuilding a country where years of war and misrule have destroyed the social fabric.

Reconstruction is a key part of the U.S. military strategy against both Sunni and Shiite extremists, but many projects have long been dogged by mismanagement and allegations of corruption.

The U.S. government suspended its efforts in Hit this month after the police chief, Col. Salah Rasheed al-Gaoud, was fired for his alleged role in the scheme, U.S. and Iraqi officials familiar with the investigation told the AP.

Officials also confirmed that the mayor, Hikmat Jubair al-Gaoud, was under investigation. Marine Lt. Col. Chris Hughes, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Anbar province, said the mayor's current whereabouts were unknown and that it was unclear whether he fled the country.

But a man identifying himself as the mayor told the AP when contacted on al-Gaoud's mobile phone that he was still in Hit and "still in my job as the mayor."

"There is a committee that it is investigating the case of stealing oil and its work has not finished yet," he said Thursday.

Among the reconstruction projects that have been suspended are repairs to the town's dilapidated infrastructure, including street repairs, sewerage upgrade and school construction.

U.S. military officials said reconstruction projects in Hit would remain on hold during the investigation, which Iraqis said was being conducted by the Ministry of Interior.

"Since the mayor and the chief of police are under investigation for corruption, we have stopped all reconstruction efforts in Hit until the investigation is resolved," said Mike Isho, the Arabic public affairs officer for Multi-National Forces-West.

"Since there is nobody to lead the city, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to continue these projects," Isho said. Caught in the middle are the 120,000 residents of Hit, located in Anbar province 85 miles west of Baghdad.

Although the U.S. has been trying to pursue reconstruction projects in Iraq since the early months of the war, the effort has taken on greater urgency since Gen. David Petraeus assumed command of the U.S. mission in late 2006.

Once U.S. and Iraqi troops subdue militants in a town or district, the next step is to begin programs to improve the quality of life to undermine support for the militants among the civilian population.

Last month, however, Democratic Sens. Bryon Dorgan of North Dakota and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked the Treasury Department to investigate whether Iraqi officials have embezzled or misspent billions of U.S. tax dollars intended for the country's reconstruction. Both senators called the scope of corruption within the Iraqi government staggering.

Such allegations have not been limited to the Iraqis. The Pentagon's inspector general reported last month that an internal audit of about $8 billion paid to U.S. and Iraqi contractors found that nearly every transaction failed to comply with U.S. laws or regulations aimed at preventing fraud.

Those findings provide fresh fodder for anti-war Democrats, who say the Bush administration has turned a blind eye to the problem of corruption and fraud by relying too heavily on contractors to manage the war.

The investigation in Hit began this year after allegations that al-Gaoud, the police chief, was involved in a scheme to divert oil illegally from a storage area at Kubaisa, about six miles southwest of the town.

Officials familiar with the probe said the police chief allegedly provided false papers authorizing tanker drivers to load fuel at Kubaisa. The fuel was then sold on the black market.

In April, al-Gaoud was forced out of his job. Officers from the Marine Corps' Regimental Combat Team 5, which helps train Iraqi security forces throughout Anbar, witnessed his resignation. Iraqi officials confirmed the account but spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Al-Gaoud's predecessor in the post, Col. Hamid Ibrahim al-Jazaa, was arrested by U.S. forces last year for allegedly freeing prisoners from the local jail in return for money. He is currently held at the U.S.-run Bucca prison in southern Iraq.

Most recently, the Anbar provincial council ordered the dismissal of the provincial police chief, Maj. Gen. Tariq Youssef Mohammed, for alleged misconduct. It was Mohammed who had ordered al-Gaoud to resign.

But Mohammed refused to give up his post because he was appointed by the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad, arguing that the council had no right to replace him.

Hughes said that although U.S. officials were not involved in the investigation of the mayor and police chief, they were keeping an eye on developments in the case.

"We're eager to plug back in though. Hopefully, this matter will soon be resolved," Hughes said.

The suspension of the reconstruction effort is the latest obstacle for U.S. forces in Hit.

The city was once believed to be a way station for weapons and insurgent fighters entering the country from Syria, 110 miles of rough road to the west.

In early 2004, the Marines took over responsibility for western Anbar but had to shift forces eastward when violence flared in the provincial capital of Ramadi and in Fallujah. With the remaining Marines overstretched, Hit fell back under the control of Sunni insurgents.

In February 2007, Iraqi police backed by U.S. troops swept through the city, arresting suspected insurgents, establishing new police stations in the downtown area and reasserting the government's authority.

Since then, corruption has not been Hit's only problem. Last month, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police checkpoint. Only a police colonel was killed, but the attack was a reminder that stability remains uncertain.

AP correspondents Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Myanmar Foriegn Aid Corruption flourishes in Aftermath of Cyclone Damage

Myanmar is at the BOTTOM of Transparency International's list of 179 countries in their Corruption Perception Index. And, now after getting all the $89-million in foreign aid due to the recent Cyclone Nargis damage, how can it go lower?

Here is a good, long overview article of the corruption issues related to foreign aid received after the Cyclone hit Myanmar.

Lessons Learned:
- If you give delivered food, etc. to the government, they might steal it. If they don't, they might only give it to their favored cities and groups and not the areas that really need it. And, if they give the supplies out to anyone, they might slap their own advertising and political stickers over the donor's name to take credit for the distribution.
- Myanmar has refused to allow foreign owned helicopters to deliver aid, thus some NGO's are giving it to the Myanmar military for delivery, which is a mistake. Once you lose chain of control, the food and supplies can be diverted anywhere.
- The best course of action as some NGO's describe, is to have your own trusted people follow the deliveries all the way to the final recipient.
- Corrupt officials may demand something of the recipients in order to get food and supplies, such as agreeing to work for the food (acceptable), or joining the army (not acceptable), or agreeing to vote for the officials (not acceptable) or working for less than market wages (not acceptable).

So, here we are again, a country in the bottom fourth (at the VERY bottom) of the TI Corruption perception index, but people are still giving foreign aid to the government without monitoring actual, final delivery to intended recipients.

As a taxpayer, I resent that any American funds might be spent that way to support corrupt officials and government entities.
vj

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from
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/1264/2008/05/19-172226-1.htm

Will corruption hurt Myanmar relief effort?
19 Jun 2008 17:22:00 GMT
Written by: Aaron Goodman

BANGKOK (AlertNet) - The international community has poured $85 million dollars into Myanmar, but rights groups claim the junta is already misusing and manipulating aid, preventing it from reaching cyclone survivors who need it most urgently.

"The misuse of aid remains a concern," Amnesty International's Southeast Asia researcher, Benjamin Zawacki told me. "Indeed, the problem with much aid distribution to date is not so much that it has fallen into the 'wrong hands', but that it has not reached the right ones. There are still people who have not received aid, and much of it remains simply unaccounted for."

Amnesty has reported several cases where aid delivered by the junta was conditioned on cyclone victims' willingness to work, or to vote in the May constitutional referendum, or join the military. It has confirmed over 40 reports of soldiers or local government officials confiscating, diverting, or misusing aid intended for cyclone survivors.

The group has reported that the military junta is forcibly displacing survivors from official and non-official settlements, leaving them with no alternative shelter.

Zawacki stressed that Amnesty is concerned about further manipulation of aid as the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and resettlement phases of the operation get underway. "The reconstruction of rural infrastructure projects is a particular worry," he said. "Work-for-food schemes are acceptable and even advantageous, but they must be designed and administered on a fair and voluntary basis."

Debbie Stothard from the advocacy group Alternative Asean Network on Burma said there wasn't any doubt Myanmar's government had already misused aid.

MISUSING AID

"They have been warehousing the aid and refusing offers of helicopters and other transportation of equipment from ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and other countries that could be used to deliver aid quickly and efficiently," Stothard said. "Generals have been photographed handing out boxes plastered with their names, aid that was clearly donated by neighbouring countries and international agencies."

Rights watchdogs, U.N. agencies, and NGOs have unanimously expressed concern about the potential misuse or corruption of aid since Myanmar announced the rescue phase of the cyclone response had ended, and that $11 billion was needed for reconstruction.

Stothard's organisation said there were reports that the junta has discriminated against minority Karen in their aid delivery, after displacing 76,000 Karen civilians in a military offensive in the east of the country that is still ongoing.

The Karen make up half the population in the delta, and have been fighting the Myanmar regime for decades for their own homeland.

"We have been demanding for access by independent assessment teams to all affected areas so that ethnic Karen complaints of discrimination by the junta can be properly investigated," she said.

Stothard said Karen affected by the cyclone were already making their way to the Thai-Burmese border. "They are desperate for help... Help that had been denied them in the delta area for over a month since Cyclone Nargis."

The Irrawaddy, a magazine run by exiled journalists from Myanmar in Chiang Mai, Thailand, reported that aid workers in Laputta township told them the Ayear Shwe Wah company was pressuring cyclone survivors to work on reconstruction projects for $0.70 a day.

CORRUPTION INDEX

The magazine said that Myanmar's generals had allegedly given lucrative reconstruction contracts to companies run by their cronies, many with spotty track records of corruption and illegal activity.

According to the Irrawaddy, one of the companies is Asia World, the country's biggest construction firm. It's run by Tun Myint Naing, also known as Steven Law, a Myanmar businessman on a U.N. sanctions list because of his suspected links with drug trafficking.

International NGO Transparency International ranked Myanmar as the most corrupt among 179 countries surveyed in its 2007 Corruption Perception Index. Myanmar was matched only by Somalia, and followed closely by Iraq.

Many aid groups insist their long histories in the country give them leverage to get around corruption entirely. Before the cyclone, some 50 aid organisations were working in Myanmar.

Sarah Saxton, press officer for Britain's Department for International Development (DfID), said: "Our aid is going only to the U.N., Red Cross and NGOs, not directly to the government." She told me: "We are funding these organisations, as they have a good track record of delivery in Myanmar."

Yet given the nature of Myanmar's regime and the country's political situation, DfID and others are taking extra steps to ensure aid isn't misused or corrupted "The system will bring together local and expatriate staff of DfID's partner organisations, and involve coordination meetings with DfID in country," Saxton said.

But without full access to affected areas, especially the delta, the risks of aid going array dramatically rise.

BYPASSING PROBLEMS

The charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Yangon, Shari Villarosa, told me: "For that reason, donors from around the world have repeatedly emphasised the need for unhindered international access into the cyclone-affected areas." She said: "In that way, we will be able to closely monitor the distribution of relief supplies to ensure that they get to those most in need."

Yet even if full access is granted, aid groups may not be able to entirely prevent the misuse or corruption of funds.

Marie-Luise Ahlendorf, programme coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance Project at Transparency International, said: "Their relatively small presence prior to the cyclone in Myanmar puts them at a disadvantage in understanding the social context and local power structures, and thus preventing corrupt abuse of international aid."

A report by the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) on the lessons aid agencies should learn from Cyclone Nargis said the unique challenges in Myanmar - restricted access in particular - made it necessary for relief organisations to be flexible. "It is important for donors to accept the dynamic and highly unpredictable context, and create forms of accountability which are tailored to the specific situations, enabling agents to operate in an adaptive fashion to changing circumstances," the report says.

It all brings to mind the problems for aid agencies in North Korea, which the regime reluctantly opened to international aid groups in the mid-1990s after a series of natural disasters created food shortages that threatened millions of lives.

But most international aid groups - with the exception of the World Food Programme and a few others - have pulled out of North Korea because the government prevented them from accessing affected people.

When it comes to Myanmar, international agency CARE insists its 14-year track record allows it to keep a close watch on where supplies wind up.

"Our operations are carried out by long-time CARE staff and local partners, and we are able to track our supplies and equipment from the point of purchase or delivery through to the distribution to the survivors themselves," CARE media officer Melanie Brooks told me.

Action Against Hunger also says it hasn't allowed Myanmar's political situation to stop it from launching relief programmes in Myanmar.

"If you follow the agreement that you have with the authorities, you find a way to do the job," Jean-Michel Grand, director of Action Against Hunger UK, told Reuters after the cyclone.

"As long as we're working on humanitarian activities, we find a modus operandi with the authorities and that's been for the last 15 years," he said.