Agility appears headed for settlement

Agility appears headed for settlement    A fraud case filed by the U.S. government against a military logistics contractor appears headed toward a settlement, according to reports in U.S. and Middle East news outlets.
   Agility, the global logistics company and a primary contractor to the U.S. Defense Department, has been charged with fraud for overcharging the U.S. Army on an $8.5 billion contract for the delivery of food and other items to troops stationed in Iraq and Kuwait.
   Kuwait-based Agility, known as Public Warehousing Co. (PWC) when the allegations are said to have occurred, has denied the charges. But the Middle East news service Maktoob Business reported Sunday that the U.S. government is pressing for a $3 billion settlement, with sources saying an eventual settlement could be anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to $3 billion.
   Agility is due to appear in federal court in Atlanta on Feb. 8 for arraignment. The company was indicted Nov. 16.
   The charges allege that Agility “grossly overcharged” the Defense Department, including inflating charges for delivery and keeping rebates from food supplies that should have been given to the Defense Department, a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said.
   'The government became aware of the alleged fraud through a whistleblower, Kamal Mustfa Al-Sultan,' the newspaper report said. 'He filed a lawsuit against the company in 2005, saying Public Warehousing and other companies illegally inflated bills to the government by up to 70 percent. The lawsuit contended the government had been defrauded out of at least $1 billion.'