2 Years Jail For American Involved In Bribery In Contracts In Camp Arifjan

A former civilian employee of the US Army’s Directorate of Public Works was sentenced to two years in prison for a kickback scheme to steer government contracts for work at Camp Arifjan, a US Army base in Kuwait, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting https://www.justice.go.

According to court documents, Ephraim Garcia, 64, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to offer a kickback. Court documents show Garcia admitted that he conspired with Gandhiraj Sankaralingam, also known as Gandhi Raj, the former general manager and co-owner of Kuwait-based contracting company to steer government contracts to the company.

Taking advantage of his position with the US Army, Garcia involved himself in the solicitation, award, and management of certain government contracts related to facilities support at Camp Arifjan.

In 2015, Garcia and Sankaralingam approached an employee of the prime contractor responsible for base support services in Mahboula, Kuwait and during that meeting, they offered to pay the prime-contractor employee in exchange for his assistance in steering subcontracts worth over $3 million.

Rather than agree to the scheme, the prime-contractor employee reported the kickback offer to authorities. On Aug 19, 2020, Sankaralingam was charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to offer a kickback and with paying illegal gratuities to Garcia. Sankaralingam remains a fugitive.

The US justice website said the charges in the indictment against Sankaralingam are merely allegations, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

 

SOURCE   :    TIMES KUWAIT

Comments Post Comment

Leave a Comment

Submit