Leaked letter to President Obama criticises investigators looking into corruption on Afghan reconstruction projects US investigators looking into allegations of fraud in Afghan reconstruction projects have been heavily criticised by a committee of senators who say that the mission lacks leadership, focus and resources. In a leaked letter to President Obama the trio of senators, Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, and Republicans Susan Collins and Tom Coburn, said that the Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) had failed to hire enough staff, had issued too few audit and investigative reports, and may be losing sight of its mission. Senior Sigar investigators told The Times yesterday that they were doing everything humanly possible to address corruption. There were a number of significant investigations that were likely to result in charges against several US citizens. I believe the [investigations] rise to the level that warrants a federal prosecution and they will be significant enough to send a message that theres a new sheriff in town, said a former law enforcement official. The senators criticism is likely to undermine US efforts to pressure Afghan officials into rooting out Government fraud if the American effort to do the same at the reconstruction and development level is failing. In the letter the senators said that Sigars chief, retired Marine General Arnold Fields, had experienced significant, ongoing difficulty in recruiting adequate, qualified staff. Officials in Afghanistan admit that the organisation has been slow to grow. Sigar employs only 58 people and fewer than half of them are based in Afghanistan full-time. It takes time to get good people, one official said. The letter also accuses the office of failing to produce enough reports.Since General Fields took up the job in July 2008 his office has issued 14 audits and inspection reports, the senators say. The Iraq oversight office issued nearly 70 reports in its first 18 months. A Sigar report on how to salvage Afghanistans own anti-corruption office is due out next week. Investigators are also looking into the private security industry and US-funded contracts to build bases for Afghan troops and police. We have got to get the big money, and the big money is in the contracts, said another senior official. How the contracts are awarded, how they are executed and what the end result is did the school get built? They said in some cases builders had spent as little as $2 million dollars on contracts worth $40 million after a series of illegal sub-contracting deals. The inspector-generals office is responsible for monitoring a broad range of projects, including training the Afghan National Army and police, and ensuring that US tax dollars are spent properly. The three senators, members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called on the White House to conduct a thorough review of the office to see if if improvements could be made to the organisation. (The Times)