Daylight Robbery

Monday September 22, 2008 at 10 pm ET/PT and Sunday September 28, 2008 at 8 pm ET on CBC Newsworld

Did the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in the centre of Baghdad on April 9th 2003 signal the start of the biggest heist in history?

Within months of the invasion of Iraq twelve billion dollars had been flown in; shrink wrapped bundles on pallets aboard US airforce planes, flown to a secret vault in Saddam's old palace in the Green Zone. The money was meant to re-build the war-torn country. But what happened to it?

Panorama goes on the trail of the money from California and Texas to Kurdistan and London to find out who got rich and by how much. An estimated $23 billion has gone missing in corruption, fraud and mismanagement and Iraq is still without sufficient electricity, clean water, schools and hospitals. But members of the rich list - from giant US corporations like Halliburton and Parsons to small time adventurers like Custer Battles - are rolling in money. It is not just foreigners who have become war profiteers - some prominent Iraqis took advantage of their public position to cream off billions leaving their own army with defective equipment, hampering the fight against the insurgents.

If the wild west of Iraq is full of cowboys there are some sheriffs as well. US Congressman Henry Waxman has given company whistleblowers a public platform despite government efforts to stop him. He has become the scourge of the Bush Administration over fraud and waste in Iraq. Inspector General Stuart W Boowen, has been to Iraq nineteen times to expose the shoddy workmanship, the failed projects and bribery that have plagued this broken nation. And Iraqi judge, Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, fled his country because of the death threats but is determined to recover some of the money and put the guilty behind bars.

Daylight Robbery talks to these people and more to find out just where all the money has gone.

Daylight Robbery was produced by Darren Kemp for the BBC.