Iraq, Contracting Corruption
More evidence of wartime corruption is emerging, alas.
In exchange for a cash kickbacks and a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a U.S. Army reservist gave a contractor "sensitive information" and "fraudulently" awarded a contract to Raman International, a Cypress, Tex.-based firm, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Theresa Jeanne Baker faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
In another fraud case, Spartan Motors and its subsidiary, Spartan Chassis, of Charlotte, Mich., recently agreed to pay the United States $6 million in fines and penalties to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to an employee of Force Protection to receive a subcontract to make chassis for armored vehicles for the Army, Justice reported.
Force Protection of Ladson, S.C., is one of the major suppliers to the Army of the military's mega contracts for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
Justice officials said Spartan paid about $100,000 to an employee of Force Protection in return for that employee agreeing to have Force Protection buy 136 truck chassis from Spartan.
Gregory G. Katsas, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement that "this settlement evidences the United States' determination to combat schemes that undercut the integrity of the military's procurement of necessary products."
Spartan executives said they did an "extensive internal investigation and undertook a comprehensive review" of the company's compliance program.
"Though clearly a painful lesson, we are looking forward to putting this incident behind us," said John Sztykiel, president and chief executive of Spartan Motors. "We are fully focused on our future in the military market and expect to remain a supplier in good standing with all our customers."
Apart from that, Government Inc. wishes you all well and a happy holiday break.
By Robert O'Harrow |
December 24, 2008; 3:11 PM ET
iraq
Previous: Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience |
Next: An End for the F-22?
Posted by: LTC-11A | December 24, 2008 7:10 PM
I worked stateside for an Alaska based firm called Tatitlek before I was fired in June of 2008.
They engaged in various types of discrimination, labor irregularities, and didn't always meet contractual obligations.
However they continue to train Marines and their internal corruption is overlooked.
Posted by: wade2018 | December 26, 2008 6:10 PM
I only hope that this new administration will make an extra effort to expose corruption that has taken place in the military and our intelligence agencies. At least allow the victims of these atrocities to be heard. With all the hardships that Americans are facing now, they deserve to know the truth. Americans should and would be outraged at what has taken place within our government.
Posted by: usagator | December 30, 2008 2:40 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I personally witness companies in Iraq who made millions of dollars, but were always behind, did not have enough people or did substandard work..in some cases, causing the deaths of our soldiers.
In one specific case, Mantech International had the contract to repair mine seeking equipment, commonly called the "Buffalo". When I asked the Mantech chief of operations how many were assigned and how many were operational, the reply was 80% were down..or 8 or 10 Buffalo's were "down".
When I reinforced my dis-content at this dismal performance, the reply was that the company DOD rep was a retired 1970's era Army general whose son was a US Congressman from Arizona. The son's name was Congressman Renzi. The father/general has since deceased. But, that said, because Mantech "bought" the contact..and because the contract could not be canceled..soldiers died or were horrifically injured...all for money.
I can only hope the justice department under an "honest" presidential team will "dig" out these stories with prosecutorial facts and sent those that crossed that line to prison for a long time.
Iraq/Anaconda-Balad/2005