A Pentagon contractor accused of misspending about $50 million in taxpayer money on luxury cars, spouse salaries, alcohol, and guns is under investigation and will likely face criminal charges, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday.
New Century Consulting is still working as a subcontractor for Raytheon after an Army audit found an array of inappropriate expenses while it was working on a program to train Afghan intelligence officers between 2008 and 2013, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who released a new investigative report on the company, told Mattis during a Senate hearing.
McCaskill’s investigation found New Century Consulting was also a former subcontractor of Imperatis, a shuttered company whose employees were accused of rampant drug and alcohol use in Afghanistan.
“What is wrong with the debarment process? This is the whip cream and cherry on top of this incredible scandal: They are still a contractor,” McCaskill said. “They are getting taxpayer money as we speak. Why in the world when you have audit evidence of this kind of egregious — I don’t know at what point it becomes criminal or just gross — mismanagement by the Pentagon?”
While being paid to mentor Afghan security forces, the company purchased Porsches, an Alfa Romeo, a Bentley, an Aston Martin, and a Land Rover. The audit found the company also hired “significant others” as executive assistants with average annual salaries as high as $420,000, spent $1,500 on alcohol, and paid $42,000 in cash for automatic weapons that were prohibited under its contract, according to the Army audit findings.
McCaskill said “somebody’s head has got to roll” and requested Mattis turn over a list of Pentagon officials who oversaw the contract.
“I won’t take issue with a single word you said,” Mattis said. “There is the ongoing investigation and because it … will likely result in criminal charges we can’t go into a lot of detail in public because we’re not supposed to when something is under investigation.”
