U.S. soldier charged with rigging Iraq contracts!

August 22, 2007 - A major in the U.S. Army has been charged with rigging the bidding process for contracts to deliver bottled water and other goods to troops in Iraq.

The major, his wife and sister are accused of accepting 9.6 million dollars in bribes over more than three years which they tried to hide in bank accounts and safe deposit boxes in Kuwait and Dubai.

Major John Cockerham, Jr., 41, was deployed to Kuwait in June 2004 where he was responsible for reviewing defense contract bids for operations in the Middle East.

According to an indictment, Cockerham and his co-conspirators accepted both flat and "residual" fees in exchange for setting up a "rigged bidding process by which Cockerham would guarantee that a contractor would receive a contract."

When investigators began to question the contracts, Cockerham tried to pretend the payments were loans or investments in a start-up company. His sister, Carolyn Blake, 44, tried to pretend the money was for donations to a ministry she planned to establish.

They were arrested last month, along with Cockerham's wife Melissa, and were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges.

"Major Cockerham and his wife Melissa engaged in the most egregious type of procurement fraud and lined their own pockets with ill-gotten contract funds that were intended for the rebuilding efforts in the Middle East," said Kenneth Kaiser assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division.

"Their actions tarnish the image of the United States and degrade the public's trust and confidence in a fair and honest procurement process."

"It is particularly disturbing that while so many of our military personnel are fighting and dying in Iraq, a few have apparently taken the opportunity to unlawfully enrich themselves," said Chuck Beardall, director of the Department of Defense's Criminal Investigative Service.

"Their greed is unconscionable, especially in the midst of our soldiers' heroic actions, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service is dedicated to aggressively investigating these crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice."

All three defendants face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 dollars for the charge of money laundering conspiracy, and up to five years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars for each of the conspiracy counts.

Major Cockerham also faces up to 15 years in prison and a 250,000 dollar fine on the charge of bribery.