Contractor fraud on Kuwait base investigated

[unhappycamper]

Contractor fraud on Kuwait base investigated
By Matt Kelley - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 5:13:38 EDT

Camp Arifjan, a sprawling base of warehouses and prefabricated office buildings in the dusty Kuwaiti desert, is the center of the Army’s financial operation for Iraq. It has handled more than $4.2 billion in military contracts.

It’s also a center for corruption investigations.

U.S. authorities are investigating a web of more than $10 million in favors, bribes and kickbacks among Army officers, contractors and subcontractors at Camp Arifjan, court and military records show.

So far, 13 people associated with the Army’s contracting operation in Kuwait have been charged with corruption in federal courts — the majority of the 20 corruption cases brought to date involving Army contracts for Iraq. Eight of the 13 have pleaded guilty. Two enlisted soldiers at Camp Arifjan were court-martialed for taking bribes.

Six companies accused of corruption in Kuwait also have been punished administratively by Army contracting officials, records show.

Those cases involve allegations of contractors offering shopping bags and suitcases stuffed with cash, wire transfers of hundreds of thousands of dollars into offshore accounts, gifts ranging from phone cards to SUVs, and parties with food, drinks and, in one case, a prostitute, court records show.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/gns_iraqfraud_071015/