Two Americans have been arrested, accussed of involvement in a conspiracy to rig bids for reconstruction work in Iraq. They are Robert Stein, comptroller and funding officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority - South Central Region in 2003 and 2004, and Philip Bloom, the owner of numerous construction and service companies. According to affidavits filed in federal court in Washington in support of the arrest warrants, Bloom paid Stein and others hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and gifts so that contracts worth a total of $13 million would be awarded to Bloom and his companies.
Nor will this be the last arrest. According to the earlier New York Times report:
"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, an independent office. Mr. Mitchell said as many as a dozen related cases had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
There's going to be a whole lot of nervous people at companies that worked on Iraq contracts for a while.
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