Agility seeks to block U.S. court case

Agility seeks to block U.S. court case    U.S. prosecutors have branded Kuwait-based global logistics firm Agility fugitives from justice in a motion filed this week, as a fraud case filed in November against the company drags on.
   The motion came as attorneys for Agility, indicted last fall by the U.S. Justice Department on fraud relating to a huge defense logistics contract in the Middle East, asked a U.S. District Court to block the case because prosecutors failed to properly serve the company.
   The company asserts it should have been served with the charges at its Kuwait headquarters rather than through its U.S. subsidiaries.
   Prosecutors, in the motion filed Monday, said Agility 'contemptuously contends that it is not subject to the laws or courts of the United States,' according to an Associated Press report Tuesday. 'The temerity of this defendant is breathtaking.'
   Prosecutors further contended in their filing that Agility was purposely making it difficult for the government to serve the indictment as the company appointed only person to accept the charges — and that official has been out of the country, the AP report said.
   The indictment alleges Agility invoiced the U.S. Defense Department with false statements and knowingly inflated prices in an $8.5 billion logistics contract beginning in 2002. The contract expires at the end of this year. Settlement talks in the case have been ongoing for months, but with little resolution thus far.
   American Shipper in its June issue chronicled the case and how Agility might recover.