Iraq corruption: Custer Battles can be held liable for fraud

washingtonpost: The Justice Department gave critical support yesterday to whistle-blowers in a federal lawsuit against a U.S. security contractor, concluding that the company can be held liable for allegedly defrauding authorities in Iraq of tens of millions of dollars.

The opinion came in response to a request by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who had asked for the government's help in decoding a basic question at the heart of the case against Custer Battles LLC: Does federal fraud law apply when the contract was administered by the Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq for a year after the U.S. invasion.

Custer Battles lawyers had argued that because the CPA was international, and because the money at stake was Iraqi and not American, accusations that the company defrauded the occupation authority didn't belong in U.S. court

[..] Legal experts said the department's stand may open the door for other whistle-blower lawsuits against contractors operating in Iraq under the CPA. The Custer Battles case is the first of its kind to be unsealed. Link

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'BBC allege massive fraud and corruption in Iraq' Link
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