Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
February 28, 2008
Pg. 8
Claim contracts canceled unfairly
By Matt Kelley, USA Today
WASHINGTON-- Two companies who say their Army contracts were canceled as part of the biggest bribery scandal of the Iraq war are seeking $11 million in damages.
The companies sued the Army over contracts managed in Kuwait by Maj. John Cockerham, an Army officer indicted on fraud charges. Cockerham faces an April trial on charges he took $9.6 million in bribes in 2004 and 2005 from firms seeking business with the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq.
A partner in one of the companies suing the Army says Cockerham solicited a bribe just after signing a contract. Michael Hightower of Seraphim Transport, said in a sworn statement that after he signed the deal in December 2005, Cockerham said, "Now, what are you going to do for me?"
"I laughed it off. I didn't think anything of it," Hightower said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY from Kuwait. He said he realized corruption was involved during a chance meeting a month later in a parking lot with another Army officer overseeing the contract.
"He said, 'What kind of deal do you have with Maj. Cockerham? We have someone here who can get money back to the States.' I said, 'I'm not giving you money for a contract,' " Hightower said.
Cockerham's lawyer, Jimmy Parks, said his client denies seeking bribes.
In all, the Army paid $122 million on the contracts that Cockerham's indictment says were tainted by bribery, according to a database maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration.
Cockerham is one of 40 people the Justice Department has charged with corruption or related crimes involving contracts for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. About $14 million in bribes have changed hands, according to Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey.
About $17 million has been seized from those defendants or ordered to be paid as restitution, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Federal authorities have seized $172,000 in a bank account allegedly linked to Cockerham and three vacant lots in San Antonio allegedly purchased with nearly $510,000 in bribes.
The Army is conducting about 90 other corruption investigations involving contracts worth $6 billion.
Gulf Group General Enterprises of Kuwait is seeking $10 million over three supply contracts canceled in 2004 by Cockerham and Maj. Gloria Davis. Davis killed herself in Baghdad in December 2006 after admitting to investigators she took $225,000 in bribes, federal agents and prosecutors have said in affidavits filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va.
Davis and Cockerham awarded contracts to Gulf Group for trash bins, portable latrines and other equipment in September 2004, according to copies of the contracts filed in court. Cockerham and Davis shortly after canceled all three contracts, between Oct. 12 and Oct. 21, 2004, those records show.
The cancellation documents cite rules allowing contracts to be canceled "for the convenience of the government."
Judges have suspended action in those suits pending the outcome of the criminal trial.
In Seraphim's case, the Army canceled its bottled water contract in February 2006, records in the $1 million lawsuit say. Hightower said Army officials told him the contract was ended because of errors in the documents Cockerham prepared.
"I feel like it was purposely structured like that so if we refused to give them a bribe, then they could terminate the contract and call it an administrative error," Hightower said.
Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the department would not comment on ongoing civil cases.
February 28, 2008
Pg. 8
Claim contracts canceled unfairly
By Matt Kelley, USA Today
WASHINGTON-- Two companies who say their Army contracts were canceled as part of the biggest bribery scandal of the Iraq war are seeking $11 million in damages.
The companies sued the Army over contracts managed in Kuwait by Maj. John Cockerham, an Army officer indicted on fraud charges. Cockerham faces an April trial on charges he took $9.6 million in bribes in 2004 and 2005 from firms seeking business with the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq.
A partner in one of the companies suing the Army says Cockerham solicited a bribe just after signing a contract. Michael Hightower of Seraphim Transport, said in a sworn statement that after he signed the deal in December 2005, Cockerham said, "Now, what are you going to do for me?"
"I laughed it off. I didn't think anything of it," Hightower said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY from Kuwait. He said he realized corruption was involved during a chance meeting a month later in a parking lot with another Army officer overseeing the contract.
"He said, 'What kind of deal do you have with Maj. Cockerham? We have someone here who can get money back to the States.' I said, 'I'm not giving you money for a contract,' " Hightower said.
Cockerham's lawyer, Jimmy Parks, said his client denies seeking bribes.
In all, the Army paid $122 million on the contracts that Cockerham's indictment says were tainted by bribery, according to a database maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration.
Cockerham is one of 40 people the Justice Department has charged with corruption or related crimes involving contracts for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. About $14 million in bribes have changed hands, according to Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey.
About $17 million has been seized from those defendants or ordered to be paid as restitution, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Federal authorities have seized $172,000 in a bank account allegedly linked to Cockerham and three vacant lots in San Antonio allegedly purchased with nearly $510,000 in bribes.
The Army is conducting about 90 other corruption investigations involving contracts worth $6 billion.
Gulf Group General Enterprises of Kuwait is seeking $10 million over three supply contracts canceled in 2004 by Cockerham and Maj. Gloria Davis. Davis killed herself in Baghdad in December 2006 after admitting to investigators she took $225,000 in bribes, federal agents and prosecutors have said in affidavits filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va.
Davis and Cockerham awarded contracts to Gulf Group for trash bins, portable latrines and other equipment in September 2004, according to copies of the contracts filed in court. Cockerham and Davis shortly after canceled all three contracts, between Oct. 12 and Oct. 21, 2004, those records show.
The cancellation documents cite rules allowing contracts to be canceled "for the convenience of the government."
Judges have suspended action in those suits pending the outcome of the criminal trial.
In Seraphim's case, the Army canceled its bottled water contract in February 2006, records in the $1 million lawsuit say. Hightower said Army officials told him the contract was ended because of errors in the documents Cockerham prepared.
"I feel like it was purposely structured like that so if we refused to give them a bribe, then they could terminate the contract and call it an administrative error," Hightower said.
Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the department would not comment on ongoing civil cases.