Agility evidence points to continued fraud, US says

Agility may still be overbilling the US on military supplies, federal prosecutors said in a pretrial hearing in a criminal case against the Middle East’s largest storage and logistics company.

“We feel very strongly and have evidence that the fraud has continued,” Assistant US Attorney Barbara Nelan told U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman on Friday in Atlanta. Agility is accused of overcharging the U.S. government on a multibillion-dollar contract to supply food for troops in Kuwait and Iraq.

The Kuwaiti is “war-profiting,” she said.

The US’s contract with Agility, formerly known as Public Warehousing Co, runs until December, Nelan said.

In a filing earlier this week, prosecutors accused the company of being a “fugitive from American justice” that is trying to evade a trial on charges of overbilling on military supplies. Agility, based in Safat, Kuwait, claims it has not been properly served in the case.

Richard Deane, attorney for Agility, declined to comment on Nelan’s statements in today’s hearing.

Tom Bever, attorney for Agility DGS Holdings, an Agility unit also named in the indictment, told the court that the case is a contract dispute over whether Agility should have kept discounts it received from vendors or refunded them to the government.

The company was indicted in November on allegations it overcharged the US government on a multibillion-dollar contract to supply food for troops in Kuwait and Iraq. The company said April 28 it was negotiating with the US Justice Department on a possible settlement of the case.

The case is US vs Public Warehousing Co, 09-cr-490, US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta).