WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- The Pentagon's fuel deal with Kyrgyzstan, made necessary after the U.S. invasion of neighboring Afghanistan, is under scrutiny.
The United States opened an air base in Kyrgyzstan and made a deal to get jet fuel from the only two suppliers in the country. The companies just happened to be linked to relatives of the country's president.
There's a new president now and the two businesses are being investigated by Kyrgyz prosecutors and the FBI, The New York Times said.
The current president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, is insisting that the United States make retroactive lease payments of $80 million and help recover the contract money that he says should have gone to the Kyrgyz government
But Pentagon officials say the demand amounts to asking them to pay twice for use of the base for the last four years. "Any possible misappropriation of funds is an internal Kyrgyz matter," a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said in a statement.
