Area man implicated in $9.6M Iraq bribery case

[jus_the_facts]

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070819/NEWS01/708190337/1002

*snip*

A University of Louisiana at Monroe graduate and his wife have been implicated in what some officials are calling the largest bribery case involving U.S. contracts in Iraq.

According to court records, Army Major John Cockerham, his wife Melissa and his sister Carolyn Blake held clandestine meetings in parking lots and hotels, had briefcases and shopping bags stuffed with cash and used coded ledgers to record millions of dollars in payments from Kuwait companies.

All three were arrested last month and charged with receiving and laundering $9.6 million in bribes from Kuwaiti companies doing business with the U.S. Army in Iraq.

The Cockerham case is the most dramatic of a cluster of Iraq-related corruption cases filed last month — the busiest month for corruption cases since the war started. It is part of a broader investigation into bid-rigging, kickbacks and bribery at U.S. government contracting offices in Kuwait, Special Agent Ray Rayos of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division wrote in an affidavit supporting a search warrant for the Cockerhams' home at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.


Many contracts for reconstruction or serving U.S. troops in Iraq are managed in neighboring Kuwait. Eleven people have pleaded guilty to corruption charges involving Iraq contracts overseen in Kuwait. Seven people and seven companies have been suspended or banned from getting new U.S. government work because of corruption in Kuwait, according to the Army office responsible for those sanctions.

[Up2Late]

1. I thought for a minute that this was a Satire piece from The Onion...

...because they use the phrase "Area Man" in their headlines a lot. :evilgrin:

<http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/area_man_meets_that_special>

[LiberalVoice]

2. $9.6 mil "largest bribery case involving U.S. contracts in Iraq"?

They must not be looking very hard. :eyes:

[jus_the_facts]

3. ..