WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- About 8.8 billion U.S. dollars distributed to Iraq's reconstruction is unaccounted for, accordingto a CBS News report on Friday.

    The report, citing a U.S. official in charge of tracing the funds channeled to Iraq, attributed the missing money to Iraq's provisional government.

    Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq's reconstruction, said some 8.8 billion is unaccounted for because the Coalition Provisional Authority, the entity governing Iraq after the war, "was relatively nonexistent."

    Frank Willis, the ex-number two official at the Coalition's transportation ministry, echoed Bowen, saying the accounting system was actually "nonexistent" in Iraq.

    Without financial infrastructure, checks and money transfers were impossible, he said, adding that thus the Coalition kept billions of dollars in cash to pay for its projects. Enditem