Thanks to the ever watchful and observant Ms. Sparky, always on the lookout for the latest in contractor malfeasance, I want to share this latest news on the newly announced suspensions of PWC/Agility executives.
Some may recall that last year, on November 9, 2009 to be precise, a Criminal Indictment was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the Public Warehousing Company (PWC) aka Agility DGS Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Kuwait, for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy to Commit an Offense), 18 U.S.C. § 1031 (Major Fraud Against the United States), and 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Fraud by Wire). PWC was indicted on allegations it overcharged the U.S. government on a multibillion-dollar contract to supply food for troops in Kuwait and Iraq.
On July 1 the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) sent out a memo announcing that Agility's Chairman and Managing Director Tarek Sultan and two others have been suspended indefinitely from doing business with the DoD under ANY circumstances!
The suspended parties are PWC affiliates who actively participated in the criminal conduct that lead to the indictment.
Agility, by the way, is a member company of the trade association IPOA, which goes by the name of The Association of the Stability Operations Industry. It is headed by Doug Brooks, well known for his ubiquitous sound bite that "this [U.S. military operations in Iraq] is the best-supported and -supplied military operation in history." Perhaps he might want to rethink that.
One also wonders what IPOA will do regarding Agility? After all, IPOA's exhortative but toothless Code of Conduct, Article 3.3, states "Signatories shall take firm and definitive action if their personnel engage in unlawful activities. For serious infractions, such as grave breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws, Signatories should report such offences to the relevant authorities."
Perhaps nothing will be done. After all overcharging on a food contract most likely is not considered a grave breach of "international humanitarian and human rights laws." Or perhaps a lawyer could argue that a suspension is not tantamount to an "unlawful activity. Although being suspended indefinitely strikes me as a pretty good sign that something is not kosher.
One of Ms. Sparky's colleagues observes,
It is possible that at least two of KBR top brassholes, Paul Cerjan and Joe Cosumano will get caught up in the mess. Paul Cerjan was at L3, after KBR and before Agility. Also Remo Butler is at L3; then of course there is Craig Peterson who left KBR and went to IAP, got caught up in the Walter Reed scandal.
What do they all have in common, they are all retired Generals and KBR.
A commenter on Ms. Sparky's website wrote:
These "suspension" notices against the three PWC/Agility scumbags are a hoot. The only reason that DLA is taking such an agressive posture against these three is to stay ahead of the Justice Department's investigation. DLA does NOT want the FBI looking into the "Prime Vendor Program" and the people running it in Philadelphia because therein exist the accomplices that make it possible for companies like PWC/Agility to rip-off the American Taxpayers for so much money on a systematic basis: People like Gary Shifton, Linda Sandoli and Paul Zebrowski. Oh, and Alan Estevez the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense who oversees DLA and who fixes lots of contracts for his friends....like his GREAT friend Maj. Gen. Daniel Mongeon (ret.) the President of PWC/Agility and former Commander of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia.