Former US offi cial gets prison over Afghanistan bribe

ATLANTA: A federal
judge in Atlanta sentenced a
former US Defense Department
offi cial to a year and
eight months in prison for
taking nearly 100,000 dollar
in bribes from a company
seeking a contract in Afghanistan.
Desi Deandre Wade, 40, of
Climax, Georgia, was arrested
in August after traveling
to Atlanta from Afghanistan
for the Fire Rescue International
Conference, offi cials
said on Wednesday. While at
the convention, Wade, then
the Defense Department’s
chief of fi re and emergency
services in Kabul, accepted
95,000 dollar in cash from
an Afghan-based company
in exchange for the guarantee
of a government contract,
prosecutors said.
The cash was in Wade’s
backpack when he was arrested,
authorities said.
The contractor had contacted
US authorities in Afghanistan
last summer and
reported that Wade was soliciting
bribes, Assistant US
Attorney Robert McBurney
told Reuters.
The contractor agreed to
work with the government
as a confi dential informant
in the investigation, McBurney
said.
Under the scheme, Wade
would provide the company
with other bidders’ quotes
so that it would be the low
bidder and get the contract,
according to prosecutors.
Wade, who earlier had accepted
4,000 dollar from
the same contractor, pleaded
guilty to the charges in December
and was fi red from
his job.
He could have been sentenced
to up to 15 years
in prison for the crime.’
Bribery costs our taxpayers
countless millions every
year,’ said Sally Yates, US
Attorney for the Northern
District of Georgia.
‘When a corrupt contractor
like this defendant demands
a bribe, he builds that
cost into the bid - meaning
that, in the end, the taxpayer
bears the expense of the corrupt
contractor’s greed.’