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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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November 6th,
2009 - Feds File Suit Over Bribery Scheme in Iraq |
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Feds File Suit Over Bribery Scheme
in Iraq By Guillermo Contreras San Antonio Express-News November 6, 2009 The Justice Department on
Thursday sued Army Maj. John Cockerham, three Kuwaiti contractors and four
company officials over allegations they were involved in the largest bribery
case authorities said has come out of the war in Iraq. Separately, the department
filed charges in San Antonio against former Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Theresa
Russell, once accused of deserting the military, in anticipation that she
will plead guilty to laundering more than $31,000 obtained through bribery in
Iraq. The Cockerham lawsuit, filed
in federal court in San Antonio, alleges that from 2004 to 2006, Green Valley
Co., Jireh Springs General Trading and Contracting Establishment and Palm
Springs General Trading and Contracting Establishment engaged in a bribery
scheme with him and fellow Maj. James Momon. Cockerham, who was last
based at Fort Sam Houston, was deployed as a contracting officer at Camp
Arifjan, Kuwait, from mid-2004 to late 2005, when much of the corruption
occurred. Momon replaced him. Both have pleaded guilty and are awaiting
sentencing. Cockerham admitted he
collected $9.6 million of the $15 million in bribes he expected to make from
the three companies and several others, and was to share some ill-gotten
gains with Momon, who collected more than $5 million himself. The suit says Saud Al
Tawash, who owned or controlled the companies, provided kickbacks to
Cockerham's sister, Carolyn Blake, so the major would steer contracts for
bottled water, tents and wastewater removal services to the contractors. Blake and the major's wife,
Melissa Cockerham, have pleaded guilty to conspiring with Cockerham. Al
Tawash also promised Momon kickbacks for his help in the scheme, the suit
says. Russell, meanwhile, will
plead guilty later this month to receiving $31,000 from ex-Army Maj. John
Allen Rivard, 49, who is serving five years in prison for collecting more
than $220,000 in kickbacks in a separate contract-rigging scheme in Iraq. Rivard, the acting chief of
contracting at Camp Anaconda, Iraq, between April 2004 and February 2005, had
a romantic relationship with Russell. The two knew each other from
a unit in Oklahoma. “She'll be accepting
responsibility for her actions, but there will be mitigating factors at her
sentencing,” said Russell's lawyer, Louis Correa. In 2005, Russell was charged
with desertion after failing to return to Iraq after a two-week leave. She
was cleared, however. External link: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/69343892.html |