Records missing from fuel costs for Afghan army: US

WASHINGTON: The US-led command in Afghanistan shredded financial paperwork for more than $475 million worth of fuel purchases for the Afghan army over four years, triggering a probe of potential fraud, US
investigators said Monday.

All records covering fuel costs for the Afghan army from October 2006 to February 2011 have been destroyed, US and NATO officers told the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which tracks how government funds are spent in the war-torn country.

The special inspector general, John Sopko, said his office planned to
investigate the shredding and urged Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to find out what went wrong.

"SIGAR also strongly recommends that you look into the causes and circumstances of the reported shredding, as well as any actions taken based on your own standards," Sopko said in a letter to the Pentagon chief.

The investigators also warned that the NATO command lacks accurate information on fuel costs for the Afghan National Army (ANA), as well as where and how the fuel is used or how much fuel has been lost or stolen.

The inspector general's office warned the Defense Department that the absence of reliable figures could hamper any effort to cover an expected rise in fuel costs as well as plans to have a portion of the fuel purchases be made through direct payments of US funds to the Afghan government.

The office said "unless funding levels based on accurate ANA fuel requirements are developed and effective controls instituted prior to the transition date, both ANA fuel and ASFF (Afghanistan Security Forces Fund) funds will be vulnerable to theft and waste."

"Basic information such as the location and storage capacity of ANA fuel sites, as well as the amount of fuel consumed at these sites, was still unknown as of June 2012," it said.

US and NATO forces are due to hand over security for the whole country to the Afghan government by the end of 2014, while transferring responsibility for logistics and fuel in January.

But the United States and other countries will keep paying for the Afghan forces' fuel, with funding expected to increase to $555 million a year in 2014, compared to the current annual price tag of $480 million.

The US-led command overseeing the training and equipping of the Afghan forces must come up with better financial controls before handing over the logistics job to the Afghans or spending more money on fuel, the inspector general's office said. (AFP)