(Iraqi) Contractor Fraud Trial To Begin Tomorrow (WPost)

[Up2Late]

(I know this subjuect was posted last night re:60 Minutes, but their are some very odd features of this case that this writer covers. I've highlighted some of them below.)

Contractor Fraud Trial To Begin Tomorrow

Case Tests Reach Of False Claims Act

By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 13, 2006; Page D01

The first civil fraud case against a U.S. contractor accused of war profiteering in Iraq goes to trial tomorrow in federal court in Alexandria. It pits two whistle-blowers against two former Army officers whose company, Custer Battles LLC, won multimillion-dollar contracts in the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003....

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...U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled last summer that because "the essential nature" of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority was "shrouded in ambiguity," the reach of the fraud law turned on the source of the allegedly stolen funds. Since much of what the CPA spent was Iraqi money from oil sales, the trial is limited to $3 million Custer Battles received in funds controlled by the agency.

Under the Civil War-era False Claims Act, individuals can file suit secretly on behalf of the government. The case becomes public after the Justice Department has had a chance to decide whether to join the case. In this case the department declined but did not say why. The complainants, pursuing the case with their own attorney, can collect 12 percent to 15 percent of any damages....

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...When Baldwin complained about the alleged overcharging, the company appointed an investigator, Peter Miskovich, to probe the matter. He sent Custer Battles a memo outlining what he considered "elements of criminal fraud" in the documentation. Miskovich said in another statement several months later that he didn't believe Custer or Battles was involved in the questionable conduct....

(more at link below)

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021200732.html>