Posted on Rueters today:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Army captain was charged on Thursday with accepting a $50,000 bribe to steer military contracts in Iraq, prosecutors said.
Austin Key, 27, of Watertown, N.Y., was stationed in Baghdad as a field ordering officer and oversaw the administration of service and supply contracts awarded by the U.S. Army worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Prosecutors accuse Key of demanding $125,000 from the owner of a business in order to protect the company’s ability to win future contracts.
More here>
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Army major, his wife and sister were indicted on Wednesday in a suspected scheme to accept millions of dollars in bribes for Defense Department contracts in Iraq and Kuwait…
… The Cockerhams’ attorney, Jimmy Parks, could not be immediately reached for comment. Parks said last month that Cockerham was a decorated Army veteran and the charges against them “just don’t compute.”
More here>
Another case here>
I don’t have the full story on this and I doubt we ever will. It was posted on Reuters Newsfeed earlier today. Rueters has already made one correction.
This is the second case I have seen this year where an Army officer, or veteran, has been indicted for something that could be construed as doing their job. The DOJ seems to think that awarding a contract, and a wife or relative depositing money in a bank account are somehow related, and therefore must be conspiracy or bribery.
The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) Stuart Bowen reported that 16 people have been convicted for fraud and kickbacks received in connection with the Iraq reconstruction. In a prepared statement, Bowen also testified, “SIGIR will do everything in its power to do more to deter crime and to uncover and prosecute those who have taken advantage of the difficult situation in Iraq to criminally enrich themselves.”
We wonder what “everything in its power” means?
http://www.v-r-a.org/docs/DisAVets.htm#_ed… Veterans earn roughly 12% less than those who never served. Over their lifetime they will earn $180,000 less then their civilian counterparts. One of the reasons is that they spend a large amount of their younger years training in a job that doesn’t translate to civilian skills, another is that they deal with the aftereffects of things like PTSD.
How can I post to the site?
Let me state emphatically that I am not a lawyer. I know nothing about veterans’s legal rights and can’t advise anyone on anything. That is one of the many reasons for starting this blog. Most of us know we need to do something, but don’t know how or where to start. Perhaps by sharing we can help each other. Check here.
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