October 9, 09

NEWS / Oklahoma Man Indicted in Kickback Scheme in Connection with Government Contract in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - Ryan Scott McMonigle, 37, of Ponca City, Okla., was indicted today for his alleged role in a scheme to solicit kickbacks in connection with the award of a security services subcontract to protect U.S. government personnel and contractors in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division Christine A. Varney and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the principal federal U.S. agency that extends assistance to countries that are recovering from disaster, are trying to escape poverty and are engaging in democratic reforms. The agency works to support long-term and equitable economic growth and advance U.S. foreign policy objectives.

In August 2006, USAID awarded a $1.4 billion contract known as the Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (the AIRP contract). The AIRP contract required the award of numerous subcontracts, including for the provision of security services to protect AIRP workers.

According to the indictment, McMonigle was employed from approximately February 2009 until May 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan, by Civilian Police International, a Virginia-based company that provides law enforcement training internationally. The indictment alleges that McMonigle, Bryan Lee Burrows and others conspired to solicit kickbacks from security vendors in return for favorable treatment for those potential bidders in connection with the award of a subcontract to provide security services to protect USAID personnel and contractors in Afghanistan operating under the AIRP contract.

McMonigle is charged with one count of conspiracy to solicit a kickback and one count of aiding and abetting the solicitation of a kickback.

Burrows pleaded guilty on Sept. 2, 2009, to conspiring with others to solicit kickbacks from the security vendors in return for favorable treatment for those potential bidders in connection with the award of a security services subcontract.

If convicted, McMonigle faces up to 10 years in prison on the kickback solicitation charge and an additional five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, as well as a fine of $250,000 for each charge. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Bradford L. Geyer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Trial Attorneys Kimberly A. Justice and Joseph Muoio of the Antitrust Division’s Philadelphia Field Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy D. Belevetz of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The investigation is being conducted by USAID’s Office of Inspector General as well as members of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force and the International Contract Corruption Task Force (ICCTF).

The National Procurement Fraud Task Force, created in October 2006 by the Department of Justice, was designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in government contracting activity for national security and other government programs. The ICCTF is a joint law enforcement agency task force that seeks to detect, investigate and dismantle corruption and contract fraud resulting from U.S. Overseas Contingency Operations, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-crm-1094.html