How can I blame Bush for this one?
Inchcape Shipping Services, with the help of subcontractors, overcharged the Navy by millions of dollars, interviews and previously undisclosed court documents show.
Inchcape, which is owned by the government of Dubai, was suspended this week from winning new federal contracts.
The civil fraud investigation, which was prompted by a whistle-blower who had worked for the company, is another serious embarrassment for the Navy, which is already grappling with a criminal investigation of its main ship supplier in the Pacific, Glenn Defense Marine Asia.
Inchcape paid commissions to subcontractors willing to give large discounts, then pocketed the difference instead of refunding it to the Navy.
The Navy ignored warning signs about Inchcape's questionable practices.
Records show that the Naval Supply Systems Command extended Inchcapes' largest contract seven times since 2010, when the Justice Department began investigating the allegations. The company has won at least $257 million under the contract.
Since 2010, the Navy has awarded the firm at least eight other contracts, estimated at more than $41 million, including three this year.
Sheila Armstrong, head of corporate communications for Inchcape, said that the Justice Department investigation and the suspension involved “a small number of Navy ships between 2005 and 2008.” The company has been discussing its billings for that work with the Justice Department “with a view to bringing this matter to a conclusion,” she said.
She also said that the company had conducted an “independent audit into its billing processes in 2009 and believes that this provided full answers to all of the questions raised.”
The governments' subpoena in 2011 also asked Inchcape for documents about any entertainment, gifts, cameras and cellphones it had provided to Defense Department employees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/30/us/scandal-widens-over-contracts-for-navy-work.html?google_editors_picks=true