Auditors question Blackwater contracts(may have improperly obtained more than $100 mil in contrants)

Source: IHT

WASHINGTON: Blackwater Worldwide, the contractor whose provision of private security in Iraq has been under scrutiny, and its affiliated companies may have improperly obtained more than $100 million in contracts meant for small businesses, according to federal auditors.

A report by the Small Business Administration's inspector general, issued in July, found that Blackwater and its affiliates, including Presidential Airways, won 39 contracts in the fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007 despite indications that the companies employed more than the number specified by the U.S. government. In some cases, the report said, the companies also had higher revenues than allowed for a small business.

Blackwater is a major provider of security for American diplomats in Iraq and was the subject of a congressional hearing after a Blackwater shooting in Baghdad last September left 17 Iraqis dead.

Blackwater and Presidential Airways, both based in Moyock, North Carolina, and owned by EP Investments, of McLean, Virginia, won 31 contracts set aside for companies with revenues of $6.5 million or less, and one additional contract for a company with no more than $750,000 in annual revenues. Those contracts, in all, were valued at $2.1 million.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/12/business/12sbiz.php

I still remember that smug bastard from blackwater at a Congressional hearing. He basically laughed his way through, maintaining that he was just a patriotic citizen, providing a necessary service with a small profit margin.

blackwater is better armed than any third world country.

to hear that there is gambling going on in this casino

(or rather, corruption in this criminal conspiracy).

that Enron's demise was actually precipitated by a simple accounting impropriety and ultimately Blackwater may get caught out in the same way.