Baird aims to speed fraud investigations of Iraq contracts
Friday, June 30, 2006 11:56 PM PDT
By Don Jenkins
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe U.S. House this week adopted a proposal by Southwest Washington Congressman Brian Baird limiting how long the Justice Department has before deciding whether it will support whistle-blowers' claims of fraud by U.S. contractors in Iraq.
The Vancouver Democrat said Friday that foot-dragging by the department is bottling up fraud complaints and blocking them from being pursued in court.
"If you don't decide, nothing moves forward," he said. "The administration has the option of participating in these lawsuits, but if the administration chooses to ... they can indefinitely delay these lawsuits."
Leaders of the GOP-controlled House agreed Thursday to attach Baird's amendment to an appropriations bill. The amendment passed by a voice vote.
Under the False Claims Act, whistle-blowers can sue government contractors suspected of fraud. The suits, however, don't proceed until the Justice Department decides whether to back the whistle-blower.
If the government declines to support the claim, the whistle-blower can still press the lawsuit.
Baird said some fraud cases have been pending for two years. His amendment will require the Justice Department to make a decision within eight months.
"I think there is a legitimate question about whether that's enough time to prepare a case, but eight months is not too little time to decide, 'Do we have a case, or don't we have a case?' " he said.
House leaders allowed Baird's amendment into a bill funding the budgets of the Justice, Commerce and State departments, as well as NASA. The Senate must agree to the amendment.
Congress has appropriated more than $34 billion for Iraq reconstruction. The office of the U.S. Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction recently reported that it was investigating 72 reports of theft, embezzlement, bribery and other crimes related to the misuse of taxpayer funds.
An estimated 50 charges of fraud have been filed by whistle-blowers under the False Claims Act, according to Baird's office.
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