Ex-Army official admits to taking bribes - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Ex-Army official admits to taking bribes

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A former U.S. Army contracting official stationed in Afghanistan pleaded guilty Friday to taking more than $85,000 in bribes to steer business to two Afghan-based trucking companies.

James Paul Clifton, 35, entered his guilty plea Friday in U.S. District Court in northern Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C.

According to court documents, Clifton admitted that two companies — Afghan International Trucking and Afghan Trade Transportation — paid him up to $20,000 and $15,000 a month, respectively, in exchange for scheduling the companies for additional trucking services. The payments occurred between May and October of last year.

He received $87,000 in all and faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced in October.

Clifton’s lawyer declined comment after Friday’s hearing.

In a separate case Friday, two men who are dual citizens of the U.S. and Afghanistan pleaded guilty to offering a $1 million bribe to a U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan in an effort to land a road-building contract.

Rohullah Farooqi Lodin, 48, and Hashmatullah Farooqi, 38, each pleaded guilty to a single count of offering a bribe to a public official as part of a plea bargain. Their guilty pleas are among dozens in recent years related to military contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both men admitted that they offered the bribe to an Army captain if he would help them land an $18 million road-building contract in Afghanistan’s Logar province.

There is no evidence that any Army officers accepted a bribe.

Lodin and Farooqi also face up to 15 years in prison when they are sentenced in October.

Their lawyers declined comment Friday.