Congressional investigators said today that the Federal Government stood to lose $2 billion because it had guaranteed unauthorized loans to Iraq made by the Atlanta branch of an Italian bank.

I further added that the end loss result from the entire scam, using all 12 companies/entities, would be hundreds of thousands of dollars in what were essentially unauthorized loans.

Two weeks ago, the government announced that 58,000 people had been punished for misappropriating money or making unauthorized loans at just two of the big four state-owned banks.

Prosecutors also charged that Mr. Giacchetto made hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized loans to friends.

The plan emphasized that banks must call in unauthorized loans, and work teams have been sent to the provinces to audit financial institutions to insure that they obey.

This prevents the board from later being sued for making an unauthorized loan - a move that could jeopardize the loan's safety.

Christopher Drogoul, a former banker accused of concealing billions of dollars of unauthorized loans to Iraq, will plead guilty next week, a Federal prosecutor said.

He was already facing six charges that accused him of falsifying company documents to conceal $14 million in unauthorized loans.

According to the indictment, Mr. Drogoul kept track of his unauthorized loans in a separate log known at the Atlanta branch-bank office as the "gray book."

Further, at that time, Doulu had made an unauthorized loan to himself, and Kong presented the evidence to Guo.