WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2021) A United Kingdom national faces fraud and conspiracy charges over a bribery and kickbacks scheme involving Iraqi reconstruction contracts, the Department of Justice announced in a press release.
"A United Kingdom national is charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery for his role in a scheme involving the award of millions of Dollars of US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reconstruction contracts in Iraq, Acting US Attorney Rachael Honig announced," the release stated on Wednesday.
The indictment charges Shwan Al-Mulla, 60, the former owner of Iraqi Consultants & Construction Bureau (ICCB), with seven counts of honest services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and defraud the US government. Al-Mulla remains at large, the Justice Department said.
"According to the indictment... Between 2007 and 2009, Al-Mulla and his conspirators, including Ahmed Nouri and another ICCB employee, paid over $1 million in bribes to John Alfy Salama Markus, a USACE employee, in exchange for the awarding of millions of dollars in Iraqi reconstruction contracts to ICCB," the release said.
In exchange for over $1 million in bribes, Salama Markus provided Al-Mulla and his conspirators with confidential USACE information concerning bids, independent government estimates, and the selection process. Al-Mulla and Nouri used this information to submit winning bids for millions of dollars in contracts, the Justice Department said.
