Iraqis paying 50,000 “ghost troops”
Andy11M and Paul sent us links to BBC which reports that the Iraqi Army is paying about 50,000 people on their payroll who don’t exist;
Known in the military as “ghost soldiers”, they either did not exist or no longer reported for duty, however their salaries were still paid.
A statement from the PM’s office said the payments have been stopped.
Correspondents say rampant corruption in the Iraqi army is seen as one of the reasons why it has struggled to contain Islamic State militants.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, quoted by AFP news agency, said the investigation began when the latest salary payments were made.
“Over the past few weeks, the prime minister has been cracking down to expose the ghost soldiers and get to the root of the problem,” said Rafid Jaboori.
It is thought that the salaries were siphoned off by corrupt officers.
Well, I’m sure they’ll be able to grease some palms to make the investigation go away. 50,000 trigger pullers might help in the war against ISIS, though.
From the Washington Post;
With entry-level soldiers in Iraq drawing salaries of about $600 a month, the practice of “ghost soldiers” is likely to be costing Iraq at least $380 million a year — though officials say that’s probably only a fraction of the true expense.
OK, this is not my shocked face, if you’re wondering, in discovering Iraqis taking advantage of their government.
Category: Terror War
Somehow, Someway, the U.S. government is paying for this.
They need to go Old School and do Payday Procedures. The soldier presents an ID card and the LT counts out the cash and then the soldier steps in front of the 1SG to make a “voluntary” donation(s) to AER, Savings Bond, CFC, Airborne Museum, yada yada.
They need to go Old School where the soldier presents an ID card and the LT counts out the cash. The soldier then goes to the next table and the 1SG “encourages” the soldier to make a voluntary donation(s) to AER, CFC, Savings Bond, Airborne Museum, EM Club, yada yada….
That used to be done alphabetically (sometimes by rank, too), so what do you do when everyone is named Mohammed or Ali?
Corruption? Iraq?
I am shocked, shocked!
http://youtu.be/SjbPi00k_ME
It’s the same reason why so many NOPD failed to show up after Katrina.
I could raise an Army of 50k “ghosts” by tomorrow afternoon, who should I contact at DoD for bids?
Soooooo … a couple of Divisions were phantoms, and nobody of account noticed!?
Oh, yeah. There was baksheesh greasing oily fingers everywhere.
I advised Iraqi troops in 2005 while in the garden spot of Fallujah. Although we were not allowed to be involved in pay or leave issues, my terp got his hands on a copy of the pay book that our Iraqi’s used. This “ghost soldier” thing was rampant in our unit. Officers would run off troops and continue to collect their pay. I duly reported it up my chain of command and was told it was not our problem.
Same here in 07-08
What were the names of the generals running this system? Vinny? Giussepi? Carmen? Luigi?
This sounds like the way the unions and the mob work: No-show jobs where the mook who is getting paid takes his check, then forks over half of it to a “collector”.
I’ve seen it first hand and that is a perfect description for it
“Correspondents say rampant corruption in the Iraqi army is seen as one of the reasons why it has struggled to contain Islamic State militants.”
Really! Who knew? Who would’ve thunk? Iraqis being scams AND cowards. Meanwhile, many are in goat herder outfits, collecting their pay and tossing weapons over the fences to ISIS.
Had the same problem in 2008 with the cops (MOI). Same ole’, same ole’.
…And the same thing happened at the end in Vietnam – commanders reporting pretty much 100% manning were told to deploy when the North came across the border…only to find that the soldiers weren’t there – the commanders were taking their pay and selling the rations/supplies. I ran across one book that suggested as much as 20% of ARVNs strength when the final offensives started simply did’t exist.
The more things change….
Mike
When I was assigned to an Iraqi National Police battalion in 07-08 on a NPT Team, I saw this first hand. Every pay day, no matter how much overwatch we tried to put on the process, there would always be a few “soldiers” that the battalion commander would pick up the pay for because they were on leave. Funny thing is that they were always on leave every pay day. These people were either entirely fictitious and the BC was pocketing all the money or they were real, never reported for duty while not being reported AWOL, and the money was split between the BC and the AWOL “soldier.” Skimming off the top is as much in their culture and blood as being good little 5 prayer a day Muslims
Really. I seem to recall the MiTT Team I was on discovering and reporting this very same practice occurring within the 5th Iraqi Army Division back in 2007.Fuckin Rag Offs.