American accused of Iraq contracts bribes plot

An American businessman has been charged with paying bribes to officials to win lucrative reconstruction contracts in Iraq, it was reported today.

Philip Bloom is accused of obtaining up to $3.5m (€3m) in reportedly fraudulent contracts, according to The New York Times.

He has been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money and interstate transportation of stolen property, the newspaper said, citing a legal complaint unsealed yesterday.

Bloom allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to US occupation authorities and their spouses.

The case is expected to be just the first in a series of criminal charges against officials overseeing the rebuilding of war-torn Iraq.

Jim Mitchell, spokesman for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said: “This is the first case, but it won’t be the last.”

He said as many as 12 related cases had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Bloom is said to have appeared in a Washington court on Wednesday and remains in custody.

He was arrested recently at Newark airport, New Jersey, his lawyer told the newspaper, and had been living in Romania for several years.

The complaint reportedly said that in order to obtain reconstruction contracts, Bloom paid at least $200,000 (€171,000) a month to an unspecified number of Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) officials, including two unnamed co-conspirators and their spouses.

One is believed to be cooperating with the prosecution.

The other was allegedly comptroller and financing officer for “CPA South Central Region in Iraq”.

The document alleges that Bloom submitted multiple bids on the same contracts, using the names of different companies that were either controlled by him or did not exist.

The rebuilding effort in Iraq has come under widespread criticism. Large amounts of money have been spent on securing projects and repairing sabotage as a result of the insurgency and lobby groups have warned that corruption could become endemic.