CHICAGO, June 19 (UPI) -- Two U.S. service members pleaded guilty in Chicago Friday to bribery, fraud and conspiracy charges involving defense contracts in Afghanistan, officials say.
A third U.S. service member pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in the United States from the Afghan bribery conspiracy, while four defense contractors and four affiliated companies were indicted for their alleged roles.
Christopher P. West of Chicago, a U.S. Army major who served in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005, pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and three counts of conspiracy. In his plea, West admitted accepting $90,000 from contractors for awarding defense contracts at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. He also pleaded to two counts of accepting cash from contractors for certifying inflated numbers of bunkers and barriers delivered at Bagram Airfield, causing the Pentagon to pay for goods that were invoiced and paid for but never received.
Patrick W. Boyd of Rockledge, Fla., a U.S. Air Force master sergeant who served as a contracting officer at Bagram in 2004 and 2005, pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and three counts of conspiracy for accepting $90,000 cash from contractors for contracts, and admitted to receiving $25,000 in cash from a contractor in return for the award of a telecommunications contract at Bagram.
Charles Patton of Chicago, a friend of West's and a U.S. army sergeant from Chicago, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property -- cash sent by West from Afghanistan.
The U.S. Justice Department said West agreed to pay $500,000 in restitution, Boyd agreed to pay $130,000 in restitution and both agreed to forfeit any fraud-related assets to the United States and to cooperate with the investigation. All three face lengthy prison terms and fines, the department said.
A superseding indictment charges Assad John Ramin and Tahir Ramin, both U.S. citizens, and their companies AZ Corp. and Top's Construction; Noor Alam, an Afghan citizen, and his company Northern Reconstruction Organization, and Abdul Qudoos Bakhshi, an Afghan citizen, and his company Naweed Bakhshi Co., with various counts of bribery, fraud and conspiracy, the department said.
