Federal authorities recover $900,000 in Army bribery probe

[Robbien]

Source: Associated Press

The person, identified as "Person A" or Megde "Mike" Ayesh Ismail in federal court documents, intermittently worked for various companies in Kuwait while Army Maj. John Cockerham was working as a contracting officer. He allegedly acted as a middle man to pay Cockerham, and he helped authorities recover money from a bank account in the United Arab Emirates.

Cockerham, his wife and sister have been charged with fraud conspiracy, obstruction of justice and related bribery charges in U.S. District Court. Cockerham is accused of accepting $9.6 million in bribes for contracts in Iraq while he was stationed at Camp Arifjan, south of Kuwait City.

Court records identify Green Valley Co. and TransOrient, two Kuwaiti companies that Ismail worked for, as having paid Cockerham hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes for bottled-water contracts.

. . .

Cockerham, 41, and his wife, Melissa, are scheduled to go to trial Oct. 22, but prosecutors have requested a six-month delay.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5181319.html

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So there is still $8.7 million remaining in bribes out there in Cockerham's hot little hands. With Gonzo's DoJ on the job, that $8.7 million is probably gone forever.

[Orsino]

1. Great! It'll only take about three minutes to spend it...

...on the goddamned war.

[baldguy]

2. And $9 billion is missing from the Iraq reconstruction fund.

This is chump change for the BFEE.

[Trillo]

3. That's what I thought.

If $9 billion was set as equal to one dollar, then $900,000 is the equivalent of one hundredth of one cent.