WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Army contracting official has been sentenced to 42 months in prison for a bribery and kick-back scheme involving off-base housing in Kuwait.
William Rondell Collins, 46, of Bartlett, Tenn., was also ordered by a U.S. District Court judge to forfeit $5,775, pay a fine of $1,725 and to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia, said Friday.
Collins pleaded guilty April 21 to one count of bribery and one count of unlawful salary supplementation.
Collins was employed by the U.S. Army Area Support Group-Kuwait, which is responsible for maintaining Camp Arifjan, a U.S. military installation providing support for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations.
As part of those responsibilities, the ASG-KU maintains an off-post housing office, which procures, leases and supervises off-post housing for government employees and military service members stationed at Camp Arifjan.
The Justice Department said Collins worked in the ASG-KU's off-post housing office and had agree to submit inflated off-post apartment lease to the United States for approval and then split with an Egyptian businessman more than $23,100 that resulted from the inflated lease payments.
According to sentencing documents, Collins also solicited about $8,400 from the Egyptian businessman between July and December 2009 and agreed in return to provide advice and preferential treatment in connection with a fixed-price U.S. government maintenance contract awarded to the Egyptian businessman's company.
