ATLANTA, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The owner of a Tennessee water company is one of three people indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged Army water contract scheme.
Mack Smith, owner WATEC, is accused of bribing a civilian U.S. Army employee and the man's wife to secure overseas water-purification contracts, including one valued at more than $32 million, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Wednesday.
Richard Long, 63, and Debra Long, 44, of St. Augustine, Fla., were indicted on charges of conspiracy, bribery of a public official, wire fraud and money laundering.
The newspaper said Long worked as water and petroleum program manager for the U.S. Department of the Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Ga., from November 1996 through December 2004.
"The defendants' alleged scheme betrayed those service members and the public by guaranteeing that the water supply for Army personnel risking their lives in hot and dry lands overseas came not from the most capable supplier, but from the one willing to bribe the key decision maker," U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said in a statement.
