Firm pays $4M to settle Iraq fraud ("war risk surcharge")

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON - A company hired by Halliburton Co. to ship military cargo to Iraq has paid the government $4 million to settle allegations it inflated invoices by adding a "war risk surcharge," the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The invoices from Houston-based EGL Inc., operating as Eagle Global Logistics, were for shipments of military goods sent from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Iraq between November 2003 and July 2004.

A former Dubai-based vice president, Christopher Joseph Cahill, pleaded guilty in February to inflating the invoices by $1.14 million to cover the fraudulent surcharges.

The company won a war contract from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root in 2002 to fly freight into Baghdad from Dubai. The deal was part of a logistics contract between KBR and the government that has paid out more than $11 billion, according to the Army Field Support Command.

Cahill's fraud scheme began in November 2003 after a plane operated by a rival carrier was struck by a surface-to-air missile and landed at the Baghdad airport with its left wing in flames, according to court papers.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060802/ap_on_go_ot/iraq_fraud

[Kagemusha]

1. This is a funny lawsuit.

In the private sector they damn well would put a surcharge like that. I guess to the government, war risk is part of the um, you know, government contract to ferry goods into a war zone.

[ixion]

3. exactly

My phone bill, supposedly at a fixed cost, continues to rise due to one surcharge or another. :grr:

It would be really nice if I could file fraud charges against them, but that's probably not going to happen.

[SutaUvaca]

2. A strange story

This report seems to leave some interesting questions unanswered. The offending company inflated invoices by 1.14 million. They paid the guv-mint 4.0 million. Is that VP in jail? Did he already spend some of the ill gotten gain on a new villa. What part of the guv-mint (or who?) got the 4 million dollar penalty payment?

I sometimes wonder if such stories come out just so later on some repuke candidate can claim an example of oversight - while the fraudulent activities continue unabated.

[Barrett808]

4. Welcome to DU, SutaUvaca!

:hi:

[SutaUvaca]

5. Thank'ee

kindly, Barrett808. :-)
glad to be here.
Glad to find so many people still have functioning brain cells.

[Barrett808]

6. We try to keep our brain cells in shape here.

Of course, mileage may vary.