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1. Protecting the Future: Constitutional Safeguards for Iraq's Oil Revenues

Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Published by the Open Society Iraq Revenue Watch, the following report argues that Iraq's future peace and security depend on instituting constitutional safeguards guaranteeing financial accountability and the equitable division of oil revenues. Protecting the Future: Constitutional Safeguards for Iraq's Oil Revenues comes as the new Iraqi government prepares to draft the country's first permanent constitution since Saddam Hussein was ousted. The report urges lawmakers to protect against oil-sector corruption and mismanagement. Protecting the Future also warns of civil conflict unless oil revenues are fairly distributed among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups. In Iraq, rifts over oil revenues run deep, as Iraqi Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen struggle for control of oil-rich Kirkuk. Without constitutional provisions that protect its oil revenues, Iraq is likely to follow the path of so many other natural resource-rich nations that are dogged by corruption and bad governance. Most oil-dependent states have “ultra-presidential” governments, which enable the executive branch to use resource revenues as it sees fit. Protecting the Future explores ways that Iraq can avoid this trap by embedding measures for accountability into the future Iraqi constitution. The report recommends provisions that make clear which agencies are responsible for the development and implementation of the Iraqi budget, and grant oversight of oil revenues to all branches of government—executive, legislative, and judicial.
Topic:
Oil, Natural Resources, Governance, Oversight, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

2. IRW Briefing: Iraqi Fire Sale

Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
While international attention is focused on the impending June 30 transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, the U.S.-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is committing billions of dollars to ill-conceived projects just before it dissolves, according to this briefing by the Central Eurasia Project’s Iraq Revenue Watch program. The briefing examines and criticizes the CPA’s ongoing rush to commit Iraqi oil funds to projects already funded by the U.S. government, instead of waiting for the interim Iraqi government to make these budgetary decisions when it assumes power.
Topic:
Budget, Accountability, Transparency, Iraq War, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

3. IRW Briefing: Audits Find More Irregularities and Mismanagement of Iraq’s Revenues

Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This briefing from the Open Society Iraq Revenue Watch reviews the latest audits by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq and the Coalition Provisional Authority Inspector General (CPA-IG), both of which reveal hundreds of irregularities in the U.S.-led occupation authority's management of Iraqi revenues, and identify serious weaknesses in Iraq's financial management systems. These audits and others show that the legacy of CPA accounting practices is a poor model for present and future Iraqi governments. It represents a failure to demonstrate by example the importance of transparent and responsible management and expenditure of public revenues.
Topic:
Accountability, Transparency, Iraq War, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

4. Racing the Deadline: The Rush to Account for Iraq's Public Funds

Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This report, the sixth in a series from Iraq Revenue Watch, criticizes the timetable set by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) for review of expenditures by the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Development Fund for Iraq (DFI). According to the report, “Under its current mandate, the IAMB has less than three months to account for $7.3 billion of DFI expenditures made by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Unless the Board is able to work beyond June 30, there is no way it can provide an accurate and public accounting for so much money.” Furthermore, the report concludes that “the delay and absence of IAMB oversight of the CPA is particularly worrying in light of recent reports by inspector generals at the Pentagon, USAID, and the General Accounting Office noting pervasive violations of contracting procedures in the allocation of U.S. and Iraqi funds for the reconstruction of Iraq.” These problems are only exacerbated by the lack of Iraqi involvement in the IAMB, the report notes, bringing into question the legitimacy of the IAMB’s operations in the eyes of the people it was designed to serve.
Topic:
Military Affairs, Budget, Revenue Management, and Public Spending
Political Geography:
Iraq

5. Opening the Books: Transparent Budgeting for Iraq

Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This report, the fifth in a series by the Open Society Iraq Revenue Watch, evaluates the level of transparency in budget reporting by the Baghdad-based Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). On the eve of the transition to a new Iraqi government, the report finds that although the CPA’s financial procedures and documents have improved, they still fail to meet internationally recognized standards for fiscal decision-making and reporting. The report calls upon the CPA and the Governing Council to make further improvements in accordance with these standards. Budgetary transparency and accountability can help assure that Iraq does not revert to the tyranny of secrecy practiced under Saddam Hussein.
Topic:
Military Affairs, Transparency, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

6. Disorder, Negligence, and Mismanagement

Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Recent audits expose serious failures in American oversight of Iraq’s revenues and U.S. reconstruction funds, according to a report by the Open Society Institute’s Iraq Revenue Watch project. The audits—released in late July by the Coalition Provisional Authority Inspector General (CPA-IG)—paint a picture of disorder and negligence. Contractors made little effort to control costs, while the Coalition Provisional Authority, which was in charge of managing Iraqi reconstruction funds, failed to adhere to federally mandated procedures for awarding and overseeing contracts. “The CPA did not do its job regarding the oversight of reconstruction funds,” said Svetlana Tsalik, director of the Revenue Watch project. “It failed to stop the misuse and waste of money that belonged to the Iraqi people and American taxpayers.” An analysis of the data suggests that of $1.5 billion in contracts, the CPA awarded U.S. firms 74 percent of the value of all contracts paid for with Iraqi funds. Together with its British allies, U.S. and U.K. companies received 85 percent of the value of all such contracts. Iraqi firms, by contrast, received just 2 percent of the value of contracts paid for with Iraqi funds. “Government favorites such as Kellogg, Brown and Root benefited at the expense of Iraqi companies whose workers badly need jobs,” said Tsalik. The report, the sixth in a series by Iraq Revenue Watch, finds that 60 percent of the value of all contracts paid with Iraqi funds went to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR)—the same company that Pentagon auditors in December 2003 found had overcharged the U.S. government for as much as $61 million for fuel imports into Iraq. A criminal investigation of KBR was launched by the Department of Defense in February 2004. The CPA-IG audits confirm the findings of previous ones. A report released in July 2004 by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board, the watchdog body set up by the United Nations, found numerous problems in the CPA’s control and use of Iraqi oil assets during the occupation. These include the absence of oil metering to control theft, poor record-keeping on oil sales, an absence of oversight of spending by the Iraqi ministries, the use of noncompetitive bidding procedures for some contracts, and the CPA’s refusal to transmit crucial information to the UN-mandated body. A recent Pentagon audit of KBR’s billing system, which shows that systematic deficiencies in the company’s accounting and billing procedures incurred significant costs to U.S taxpayers and to Iraqi oil revenues, is further proof of mismanagement. Following the model of its American predecessor, the Iraq interim government to date has provided scant information about how it is managing Iraq’s oil revenues.
Topic:
Oil, United Nations, Military Affairs, Budget, Transparency, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

7. Controlling Iraq’s Skies: The Secret Sell-Off of Iraq’s Air Industry

Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In this report the Open Society Iraq Revenue Watch (IRW) looks at Iraq’s national air transport sector, which is presently controlled by the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Despite CPA claims that it intends to return control of the country’s air industry to the Iraqi people, a document obtained by the Open Society Foundations shows that a backroom deal has already sold off 75 percent of the country’s air sector to a single family. The IRW argues that the secret deal is one among a number of suspect agreements that have occurred under the radar in a chaotic post-war Iraq. The report’s authors caution that Iraq risks following a similar path as Russia, where a class of oligarchs emerged after the fall of communism by buying up state assets at below market prices. Controlling Iraq’s Skies recommends that this contract be frozen and an investigation be launched by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board, as well as by the CPA Inspector General. The report also calls on the CPA to compensate Iraqi Airways for damage to its facilities committed by occupying forces, and fees for the use of its facilities.
Topic:
Military Affairs, Budget, Public Sector, Iraq War, Air Force, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

8. Open Society Institute Calls for Vigilant Monitoring of Iraq Supplemental Spending

Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The Iraq Supplemental bill President Bush signed October 17 goes far in addressing key concerns regarding transparency of U.S. governance in Iraq, but close scrutiny is required, says the Open Society Institute. Against a background of criticism over sole source contracts to Halliburton, allegations of price inflation by U.S. contractors, and the obstacles both Congress and outside observers have encountered in obtaining information about contracts for reconstruction, Congress demanded increased reporting on how U.S. funds to Iraq are spent.
Topic:
Governance, Budget, War on Terror, Fiscal Policy, Transparency, and Iraq War
Political Geography:
Iraq

9. OSI Supports the Establishment of New Monitoring Board in Iraq; Calls for Vigilant Oversight

Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Prospects for the independent oversight of how the Coalition Provisional Authority manages Iraqi oil revenues were improved Friday with the first meeting of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB), says Iraq Revenue Watch, a program of the Open Society Institute's Central Eurasia Project. The audit body, created in May under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483, consists of four members representing the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Arab Development Fund.
Topic:
Governance, World Bank, Transparency, Iraq War, and IMF
Political Geography:
Iraq

10. Keeping Secrets: America and Iraq’s Public Finances

Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Keeping Secrets, a report from the Open Society Iraq Revenue Watch project, concludes that Iraq’s public finances have so far fallen short of international standards of accountability. The report was released on the eve of an international donors’ conference for Iraq in Madrid, scheduled for October 23–24. It calls for greater transparency in the management of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), the central repository for U.S. reconstruction assistance as well as Iraqi oil and gas revenues. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)—the U.S.-established governing agency in Iraq—has delayed the establishment of a crucial oversight body and refused to disclose basic information about large purchase contracts and DFI expenditures, the report says. Keeping Secrets calls on the CPA to reverse these trends and offers a set of recommendations, including increased Iraqi involvement in the DFI, more substantial oversight authority for the United Nations’ International Advisory and Monitoring Board, and better public access to information.
Topic:
Finance, Accountability, Public Sector, Fiscal Policy, Transparency, and Public Spending
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq