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March 14, 2018 By AMK

COR sentenced to prison for soliciting $320,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors

A former employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) based in Afghanistan was sentenced on Mar. 8, 2018 to 100 months in prison for soliciting approximately $320,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors in return for his assistance in U.S. government contracts.

Mark E. Miller, 49, of Springfield, Illinois was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence and forfeit $180,000 and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.  Miller previously pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with seeking and receiving bribes.

Miller admitted worked for the USACE from 2005 until 2015, including in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, and maintained a residence in Springfield during that time.  From February 2009 to October 2011, Miller was assigned to a military base, Camp Clark, in eastern Afghanistan.  He was the site manager and a contracting officer representative (COR) for a number of construction projects in Afghanistan.

On Dec. 10, 2009, the USACE awarded a contract worth approximately $2.9 million to an Afghan construction company for the construction of a road from eastern Afghanistan to the Pakistani border.  This contract later increased in value to approximately $8,142,300.  Miller oversaw the work of the Afghan company on this road project, including verifying that the company performed the work called for by the contract and, if so, authorizing progress payments to the company by the USACE.

As part of his guilty plea, Miller admitted that, in the course of overseeing the contract with the Afghan company, he solicited from the owners of the company approximately $280,000 in bribes in return for making things easier for the company on the road project, including making sure the contract moved along and was not terminated.  He further admitted that, after the contract was no longer active, he solicited an additional $40,000 in bribes in return for the possibility of future contract work and other benefits.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Fort Worth Division.  The Dept. of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Central District of Illinois prosecuted this case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-employee-us-army-corps-engineers-afghanistan-sentenced-prison-soliciting-approximately

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: abuse, Afghanistan, Army Corps of Engineers, bribe, bribery, conviction, corruption, DCIS, DOJ, FBI, felony, Justice Dept., MPFU, SIGAR, USACE

January 10, 2018 By AMK

Pentagon task force’s $675 million in contracts to rebuild Afghanistan found wasteful

The Defense Department’s now-defunct business task force for rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan has again been found to have ineffectively spent its budget, devoting more than half of $675 million in contract obligations to indirect or support costs and favoring sole-source providers, a watchdog found.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction on Tuesday released its latest critique of the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, which worked from 2010-2014 to hire companies to help the Afghans with economic development in such areas as mining, irrigation and banking.

That body was disbanded in 2015, with many of its projects incomplete or turned over to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2018/01/pentagon-task-forces-675-million-contracts-rebuild-afghanistan-found-wasteful/145077

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Afghanistan, DoD, IG, OIG, SIGAR, State Dept., USAID, waste

July 26, 2017 By AMK

COR pleads guilty to soliciting $320,000 in bribes from contractors

A former employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) based in Afghanistan pleaded guilty yesterday (July 25, 2017)  to soliciting approximately $320,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors in return for his assistance in U.S. government contracts.

Mark E. Miller, 48, a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), pleaded guilty before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Springfield, Illinois.  Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on November 30, by U.S. District Judge Richard H. Mills.

During the court hearing, Miller testified that he worked for the USACE from 2005 until 2015, including in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012.  From February 2009 to October 2011, Miller was assigned to a military base, Camp Clark, in eastern Afghanistan.  While in Afghanistan, Miller was the site manager and a COR for a number of construction projects.

Miller testified to the fact that on Dec. 10, 2009, the USACE awarded a contract worth approximately $2.9 million to an Afghan construction company for the construction of a road from eastern Afghanistan to the Pakistani border.  This contract later increased in value to approximately $8,142,300.  Miller oversaw the work of the Afghan company on this road project, including verifying that the company performed the work called for by the contract and authorizing progress payments to the company by the USACE.

Miller admitted that, in the course of overseeing the contract with the Afghan company, he solicited approximately $280,000 in bribes from the owners of the company, in return for assisting the company in connection with the road project, including making sure the contract was not terminated.  Miller further admitted that, after the contract was no longer active, he solicited an additional $40,000 in bribes in return for the possibility of future contract work and other benefits.

This matter was investigated by the FBI, the Defense Contract Investigative Service, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-employee-us-army-corps-engineers-afghanistan-pleads-guilty-soliciting-approximately

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: abuse, Afghanistan, Army Corps of Engineers, bribe, bribery, corruption, Criminal Investigation Command, FBI, kickback, SIGAR, USACE

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