thedrifter
06-17-08, 07:29 AM
Military contractor accused of bribery
Businessman sent $4,966 kickback to Dayton, FBI says
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:11 AM
By Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
An FBI sting operation stretching from Iraq to England to Dayton has ended in bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges against a U.S. contractor in Iraq.
Las Vegas contractor Metin Atilan was indicted last week in U.S. District Court in Columbus, accused of bribing Department of Defense officials to steer multimillion-dollar contracts his way.
Atilan is the chief operating officer of PMA Securities, which has millions of dollars worth of contracts in Iraq for the Air Force, Army and Marines, PMA's Web site says.
U.S. government officials won't talk about the case on the record. Atilan, reached at his Las Vegas home, refused to answer questions.
But court records said the investigation began after an Air Force contracting officer told the FBI in November that Atilan had offered him a bribe in exchange for government contracts.
FBI agents had the officer play along with the offer, and on Dec. 3, 2007, Atilan's wife, Ayfer Atilan, wired $4,966 into the officer's Dayton bank account as a kickback for a contract the officer had awarded him in 2006. That money came from an account in Turkey.
Atilan also offered, via e-mail, more bribes, an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Eric J. Miller alleges.
The officer then linked Atilan with an undercover agent posing as an Army contracting officer. In a meeting in London, the agent offered Atilan a $10 million contract for residential trailers for Iraq, and Atilan promised him a $1 million kickback. Through two intermediaries, Atilan delivered a total of $30,000 to the agent on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 in meetings at London hotels.
Atilan was arrested May 22 in Las Vegas and is under house arrest there. He is to be transferred to Columbus in the next few weeks to be arraigned in district court, said Mike Brooks of the FBI in Cincinnati. The case was filed in Columbus because the bribe was wired to Dayton.
According to PMA's Web site, the company has done business with the U.S. government since 1983 and has been in Iraq since 2003. Current Iraq contracts include those for trash pickup, laundry, heavy-equipment rental and custodial services.
A second bribery case involving government contracts also is in federal court in Columbus. In that case, which appears to be connected to the Atilan case, an Air Force contracting officer accepted bribes for steering contracts to the Abdullah Trading Co. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Two men, Lateefuddin Khaja of India and Salim Ali Bin Howail of Tanzania, are accused in court documents of paying more than $100,000 in bribes to the officer and, in at least two cases, to the officer's spouse.
Khaja was arrested in late May and charged with one count of fraud. Court records on Howail's case are sealed. Federal officials refused to discuss either case. Khaja's attorney in Dayton couldn't immediately be reached.
kgray@dispatch.com
An Air Force officer told the FBI he was offered money to steer contracts to the company.
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Businessman sent $4,966 kickback to Dayton, FBI says
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:11 AM
By Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
An FBI sting operation stretching from Iraq to England to Dayton has ended in bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges against a U.S. contractor in Iraq.
Las Vegas contractor Metin Atilan was indicted last week in U.S. District Court in Columbus, accused of bribing Department of Defense officials to steer multimillion-dollar contracts his way.
Atilan is the chief operating officer of PMA Securities, which has millions of dollars worth of contracts in Iraq for the Air Force, Army and Marines, PMA's Web site says.
U.S. government officials won't talk about the case on the record. Atilan, reached at his Las Vegas home, refused to answer questions.
But court records said the investigation began after an Air Force contracting officer told the FBI in November that Atilan had offered him a bribe in exchange for government contracts.
FBI agents had the officer play along with the offer, and on Dec. 3, 2007, Atilan's wife, Ayfer Atilan, wired $4,966 into the officer's Dayton bank account as a kickback for a contract the officer had awarded him in 2006. That money came from an account in Turkey.
Atilan also offered, via e-mail, more bribes, an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Eric J. Miller alleges.
The officer then linked Atilan with an undercover agent posing as an Army contracting officer. In a meeting in London, the agent offered Atilan a $10 million contract for residential trailers for Iraq, and Atilan promised him a $1 million kickback. Through two intermediaries, Atilan delivered a total of $30,000 to the agent on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 in meetings at London hotels.
Atilan was arrested May 22 in Las Vegas and is under house arrest there. He is to be transferred to Columbus in the next few weeks to be arraigned in district court, said Mike Brooks of the FBI in Cincinnati. The case was filed in Columbus because the bribe was wired to Dayton.
According to PMA's Web site, the company has done business with the U.S. government since 1983 and has been in Iraq since 2003. Current Iraq contracts include those for trash pickup, laundry, heavy-equipment rental and custodial services.
A second bribery case involving government contracts also is in federal court in Columbus. In that case, which appears to be connected to the Atilan case, an Air Force contracting officer accepted bribes for steering contracts to the Abdullah Trading Co. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Two men, Lateefuddin Khaja of India and Salim Ali Bin Howail of Tanzania, are accused in court documents of paying more than $100,000 in bribes to the officer and, in at least two cases, to the officer's spouse.
Khaja was arrested in late May and charged with one count of fraud. Court records on Howail's case are sealed. Federal officials refused to discuss either case. Khaja's attorney in Dayton couldn't immediately be reached.
kgray@dispatch.com
An Air Force officer told the FBI he was offered money to steer contracts to the company.
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Yahoo!
Ellie