Two companies sue Army for $11 million

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Two companies sue Army for $11 million
By Matt Kelley - USA TODAY
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 21:26:50 EST

WASHINGTON — Two companies who say their Army contracts were canceled as part of the biggest bribery scandal of the Iraq war are seeking $11 million in damages.

The companies sued the Army over contracts managed in Kuwait by Maj. John Cockerham, an Army officer indicted on fraud charges. Cockerham faces an April trial on charges he took $9.6 million in bribes in 2004 and 2005 from firms seeking business with the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq.

A partner in one of the companies suing the Army says Cockerham solicited a bribe just after signing a contract. Michael Hightower of Seraphim Transport Co., said in a sworn statement that after he signed the deal in December 2005, Cockerham said: “Now, what are you going to do for me?”

”I laughed it off. I didn’t think anything of it,” Hightower said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY from Kuwait. He said he realized corruption was involved during a chance meeting a month later in a parking lot with another Army officer overseeing the contract.

“He said, ‘What kind of deal do you have with Maj. Cockerham? We have someone here who can get money back to the States.’ I said, ‘I’m not giving you money for a contract,’ ” Hightower said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/gns_army_lawsuits_022708/