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A contractor in Iraq has pleaded guilty to providing money, sex and
designer watches to US officials in exchange for more than $US8 million ($10.8
million) in reconstruction contracts.
Philip Bloom faces up to 40 years in prison after admitting paying more than
$US2 million in bribes to US officials with the Coalition Provisional Authority,
which ruled Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003.
Bloom's guilty plea on bribery and money-laundering charges is the latest development
in a widening corruption scandal centred on a network of US civilians and military
officials who worked out of a coalition outpost in the south-central Iraqi town
of Hillah.
Under the plea agreement, Bloom must pay $US3.6 million in restitution and
forfeit $US3.6 million in assets. His guilty plea "sends a message to Iraqis
that US oversight will track down, arrest and prosecute American citizens who
committed crimes in Iraq involving Iraqi money", said Stuart Bowen, who
heads the office of the Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction.
The scheme began in January 2004, when Bloom began paying bribes to Robert
Stein, a civilian contractor who controlled $US82 million in reconstruction
funds as the comptroller for the coalition's headquarters in Hillah.
Stein, who had a previous conviction for fraud when he was hired, pleaded guilty
to accepting bribes in February. He funnelled money and favours from Bloom to
other officials in Hillah, all of whom helped direct contracts to a group of
companies controlled by Bloom, court documents say.
Two officers in the US Army Reserve, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Wheeler and
Lieutenant-Colonel Debra Harrison, have already been arrested in connection
with the case and more arrests are expected, investigators said.
From January to June 2004, when the coalition government was replaced, Bloom
provided Stein and officers with first-class air tickets, real estate lots,
weapons, new four-wheel-drive vehicles, cigars, designer watches, alcohol, prostitutes
at Bloom's Baghdad villa and cash bribes.
In return, Bloom's company, Global Business Group, received $US8.6 million
in contracts to refurbish a police academy in Hillah, a library in Karbala and
other reconstruction projects. In some cases the work was never done, and in
others it was shoddy, audits by the inspector-general reveal.
The contracts were paid with Iraqi funds held in the Development Fund for Iraq,
which has been at the centre of many of the corruption scandals in Iraq.
