Federal authorities have charged with bribery two employees of a Lebanese-based company that claims to have more than $400 million in contracts with the Department of Defense, court documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court said.
Sima Salazar Group’s Afghanistan Country Manager Dinorah Cobos and her boss, Raymond Azar, offered a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official more than $100,000 if the official would approve at least $3 million in expenses beyond the value of initial contract proposals, according to a sworn statement by FBI Special Agent Perry J. Goerish.
The company, known as SSG, has contracts valued at more than $300 million in Iraq and $100 million in Afghanistan, according to its Web site. Among those is a $22 million contract to design and build the Terin Kowt Road in southern Afghanistan and a $20 million contract to design and build a base for the Afghan National Army.
In January, Cobos approached the unnamed official seeking approval for $670,000 for extra expenses incurred while building the Terin Kowt Road, Goerish wrote. After negotiating with the official, Cobos reduced the amount to $120,000.
The official suspected the original $670,000 was a fraud and turned the details over to the FBI, court documents said. Under the FBI’s direction, the Army Corps official continued to work with Cobos.
In February, SSG submitted requests totaling $13 million in expenses beyond the initial value of several contracts, Goerish wrote. On Feb. 22, Cobos and Azar met with the official and asked the official to approve the extra spending. During that meeting, Azar offered the official a job and gave the official a Cuban cigar. Cobos gave the official a bottle of wine and candy.
According to Goerish’s statement, the official later contacted Cobos and told her an $8.9 million contract for the Afghan army’s base was inflated by at least $3 million. The official suggested that Cobos pay the official a percentage of the contract’s value to win approval. Cobos and Azar eventually agreed to pay the official 1 percent of all SSG contracts, Goerish wrote. In March, Cobos deposited $40,000 in an FBI bank account in Manassas.
Cobos and Azar were arrested Thursday and are being held without bail. Their attorneys did not return calls Monday.
A Department of Defense spokesman said, “We take any bribery situation very seriously,” but declined to comment further.
