WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th February, 2019) US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and at least two affiliates are among the companies and individuals facing Federal charges over false claims and financial kickbacks tied to a nuclear cleanup contract, the Justice Department said in a press release.
"The United States has filed suit against Mission Support Alliance LLC (MSA), Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC), Lockheed Martin Services Inc. (LMSI), and Jorge Francisco Armijo for alleged false claims and kickbacks in connection with a multi-billion Dollar contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to support the environmental cleanup at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington," the release said on Friday.
In the complaint, the US government alleges that the defendants knowingly made false statements to the Energy Department regarding the amount of profit in billing rates and for these inflated rates violated the False Claims Act.
LMC, the release added, also made payments of more than $1 million to Armijo and other MSA executives to obtain impromper favorable treatment with respect to the contract with the inflated rates. MSA at the time of the lawsuit was partially owned by Lockheed. Armijo is currently a Vice President of LMC and also served as the head of MSA during the time period in question, according to the release.
The Hanford Site was used to produce plutonium for bombs used to end World War II, according to the Energy Department. The last reactor was shut down in 1987 and since then Hanford's mission has been to clean up the site after decades of weapons production activities.
