WASHINGTON (AP) — A Marine in Iraq sent home $43,000 in stolen cash by hiding it in a footlocker among American flags. A soldier shipped thousands more concealed in a toy stuffed animal. An embassy employee tricked the State Department into wiring $240,000 into his foreign bank account.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the number of people indicted and convicted by the U.S. for bribery, theft and other reconstruction-related crimes in both countries is rapidly rising, according to two government reports released Sunday.
“This is a boom industry for us,” Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said in an interview.
How about that THREE BILLION in unmarked bills that got shipped off on a palate in a cargo jet???
