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Washington: Members of the US Congress have as much as $196 million (Dh720 million) collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defence Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a non-partisan research group.
Not all the companies in which lawmakers invested are typical defence contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received defence-related contracts, notes the report by the Washington-based Centre for Responsive Politics.
The centre's review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending.
Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments.
According to the report, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain did not report any defence-related holdings on their filings; Hillary Rodham Clinton sold her stocks in some of the companies in May 2007.
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