WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. businessman has been charged with paying bribes and kickbacks to American occupation authorities to obtain construction contracts in Iraq.
Philip H. Bloom, who controlled three companies that did reconstruction work in Iraq, has been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money and interstate transportation of stolen property -- in connection with obtaining up to $3.5 million in reportedly fraudulent contracts, the New York Times reported.
The complaint was unsealed in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. It mentions two unnamed co-conspirators who worked in the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. body that administered Iraq after the 2003 military invasion toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The two CPA officials are accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.
"This is the first case, but it won't be the last," said Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Mitchell said as many as a dozen related cases had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, the Times reported.
The complaint says Bloom paid at least $200,000 a month to an unspecified number of CPA officials, including the two co-conspirators and their spouses. Neither co-conspirator is named in the complaint, which indicates that one of the co-conspirators is cooperating with prosecutors.
