The long and short of it? Crime pays.
Ignoring calls to scrutinize troubled contractors, the U.S. military has awarded a portion of a $490 million contract to an American corporation that's under investigation for possible fraud.The obvious question that springs to mind here is: WTF?
The Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract to Louis Berger Group, a New Jersey-based company that federal prosecutors have acknowledged is being investigated for allegedly overbilling the U.S. government.
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Two months after the government learned of the employee's allegations, the U.S. Agency for International Development tapped Louis Berger to oversee another $1.4 billion in reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan.
Court documents reveal that the Justice Department is negotiating a deal that could "aid in preserving the company's continuing eligibility to participate" in federal contracting in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
What exactly does a crooked company have to do to merit exclusion from future government contract work? Overbilling the customer is the #1 cardinal sin of government contracting. NOTHING else comes close. Most companies lose all of their current contracts and have zero chance of being awarded any future contracts if found guilty. Most.
So what is it about this company that they're allowed to skate? It's a New Jersey company...does that mean it's skating due to Union ties? Mob ties (JUST KIDDING!!!!!!! I DON'T LIKE CEMENT OVERSHOES!!!!!!)? "Help" from congressional arm twisting?
It's yet another demonstration of the principal ill affecting the USA at this point in its decline. There are two systems of Justice. The first one, for the Mundanes, inflicts punishment without regard for common sense or human decency. The second one exists to exonerate the Elites when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
