Up to 50 criminal cases involving alleged fraud, bribery and abuse have been opened.
The Associated PressWASHINGTON | Army investigators have opened up to 50 criminal investigations involving battlefield contractors in the war in Iraq and the U.S. fight against terrorism, The Associated Press has learned.
They include high-dollar fraud, conspiracy, bribery, and bid rigging.
Senior contracting officials, government employees, residents of other countries and, in some cases, U.S. military personnel have been implicated in millions of dollars of fraud allegations.
“All of these involve operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait,” Chris Grey, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, confirmed Saturday.
Battlefield contractors have been implicated in allegations of fraud and abuse since the war in Iraq began in spring 2003. A special inspector general office that focused solely on reconstruction spending in Iraq developed cases that led to four criminal convictions.
The problems stem in part from the Pentagon’s struggle to get a handle on the unprecedented number of contractors now helping run the nation’s wars. Contractors are used in battle zones to do nearly everything but fight.
Special agents from the Army’s major procurement fraud unit recently were dispatched to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, where they are “working closely and sharing information with other law enforcement agencies in the region,” Grey said.
One case involves an Army chief warrant officer accused of taking a $50,000 bribe to steer a contract for paper products and plastic flatware away from a government contractor and to a Kuwaiti company, according to court records.
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