War Profitering or Just Profiting

For six years we heard from the Democrats about the corruption in the deals made for contracts in Iraq. Millions were stolen, billions were lost. Democrats screamed about accountability.


They are quiet today, in part, I am sure, because those commiting the fraud aren't big named companies ... they are all little people.






Jun 12, 2009


Fraudsters eye huge stimulus pie, consultant says
Companies will face extra requirements to prevent problems




By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch



NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Swindlers, con men, and thieves could siphon off as much as $50 billion of the government's planned stimulus package as the money begins flooding the economy in coming months, according to David Williams, who runs Deloitte Financial Services Advisory and counsels clients on fraud prevention.

Williams predicted that about $500 billion of the total $787 billion stimulus would be channeled into the traditional procurement network for government contracts, while the rest will be spent directly by the government or outside the corporate network.

"The rule of thumb typically is that of the about $500 billion worth of money that's going to run through the procurement process, somewhere between 5% and 10% of that usually finds it way into potential problems," Williams said. "That's sort of the benchmark that I use."

Companies will face increased pressure to try to stem the tide, and need to be prepared to safeguard data as well as the cash, according to Williams.

Williams said this week that the money flowing from the current stimulus package is particularly vulnerable to fraud because almost all movement of money is now done electronically.

"We're telling our clients to be very careful and to make sure their firms are resilient in terms of dealing with the potential opportunities for fraud and waste," Williams said.

That means keeping an eye out for the traditional scams such as billing for services not performed. But it also means firms must become even more diligent about electronic records and network security.

[...]

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said some stimulus-related scams had already happened and that some mistakes were inevitable. President Barack Obama said Monday that the White House is trying to make sure the stimulus money isn't being ill-spent.

Joe - is this what Bush said about the misused funds in Iraq ... 'some mistakes'? And you of course accepted that excuse?

[To read the rest of the article, click on the title link.]

Democrats