WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2021) The Belgian security company Seris and three former executives face criminal charges of price fixing and bid rigging for defense-related security services, including a multimillion-dollar contract issued in 2020 to provide services for US Defense Department facilities in Belgium, the Justice Department said.
"The companies and individuals indicted are alleged to have rigged bids submitted to the U.S. Department of Defense and others, and abused the public trust placed in them as providers of security services at critical locations," Acting Assistant US Attorney General Richard Powers said in a press release on Wednesday.
The indictment charges former Seris CEO Danny Vandormael, former Seris Director Peter Verpoort, and former CEO of subcontracting firm G4S Jean Paul Van Avermaet with conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers for security contracts. The three defendants worked in Belgium and are Belgian nationals, the release said.
The conspirators agreed in advance which company would win certain security services contracts, and the price that each would bid for the contracts. As a result, the US government received non-competitive and inflated bids, and was deprived of a competitive bidding process. The effort began early as spring 2019 and continued until the summer of 2020, the release added.
The defendants are each charged with a violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals and a $100 million fine for corporations, according to the release.
