Another great decision was brought to us this week by T.S. Ellis, the U.S. District Court judge who is making his own very special legal mark on the Global War on Terror.
In a surprise ruling, Ellis decided that defrauding the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), though not such a nice thing to do, wasnt the same as defrauding the U.S. government (presumably thats bad, too).
What? Yes, yes, the word coalition is in the name, but we assumed that was just window dressing, sort of like the Nicaraguans who were part of the Coalition of the Willing.
I guess some people took that coalition stuff seriously.
Lets revisit the case. Custer Battles a Virginia-based security firm with no substantive experience in security, got a lucrative security contract from the CPA. In 2006, they were found to have defrauded the U.S. governmentsomething that didnt come as a surprise to those who worked with them (probably the worst I’ve seen in my 30 years in the Army” was a memorable quote). The case was prosecuted on the False Claims Act, which allows citizens with insider knowledge of fraud to make claims against these bad-boy companies.
The False Claims Act was expected to be used against a number of companies operating in Iraq, according to the New York Times. Ellis’ ruling throws a wrench in those plans, the article says:
But an underlying issue raised by Custer Battles during its trial and on appeal was whether bills submitted to the Coalition Provisional Authority could be regarded as bills presented to the United States government. The coalition authority was an entity created and largely financed by the United States to run Iraq, and largely staffed by American officials, but with an ambiguous legal status.
The Justice Department in an advisory opinion, and the jury in the Custer Battles case, said that some of the Custer Battles invoices were indeed claims against the American treasury and that the False Claims Act applied.
But in an opinion issued Wednesday and posted yesterday, Judge T. S. Ellis III, of the Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., said the plaintiffs had failed to prove that the claims were presented to the United States. The coalition authority, the judge ruled, was an international entity, and bills presented to American officials then detailed to the authority were not subject to the False Claims Act.
Did we miss something here? Wasnt Paul Bremer, the CPAs head, reporting to the U.S. government? Wasnt the CPA funded and controlled by the U.S. government? Did the United Kingdom really have much of a say (or maybe it was Nicaragua pulling the strings)? The ruling, if upheld, simply makes a bigger mess of U.S. policies in Iraq, particularly as it pertains to private contractors accountability.
What about Judge Ellis? Lets look at some of his other fascinating decisions:
* Earlier this month, Ellis allowed espionage charges to proceed against two former employees of AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, to continue. The Federation of American Scientists says this precedent could have radical implications (like for the Federation, which posts a lot of national defense documents).
* In May, the same judge dismissed a lawsuit against the CIA and assorted contractors by German citizen Khalid El-Masri. The judge said the charges of torture, if true, were sad, but national security is national security (of course, I thought national security was about protecting the rights of U.S. citizens and citizens of our allies).
Of course, now Im surprised that Ellis didnt question whether the CIA was actually controlled by the U.S. government.
–Sharon Weinberger (and cross-posted at my new site)
More business as usual. In May 2003 George II issued Executive Order 13303, “Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq”.
“Section 1. Unless licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to this order, any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void, with respect to the following:
(a) the Development Fund for Iraq, and
(b) all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein, and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature whatsoever arising from or related to the sale or marketing thereof, and interests therein, in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons.“
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030522–15.html
Simply put, it holds The Development Fund for Iraq and US oil corporations above the law by rendering any claim or lawsuit brought against them to be “null and void.” Whoever controls the Fund can do anything they want with the money, such as put it in their pocket.
While I’m a long fan of DefenseTech, this article surprised me for its lack of balance — it reminds me of the sort of logic employed by Kos.
Granted, I don’t know the details of the situation, but the logic presented in the article seems sound: if the False Claims Act protects the United States government, of course it wouldn’t apply to invoices for the CPA any more than it apply to invoices for the Iraqi government (or NATO, or the UN, or any other organization in which the US has a disproportionate but incomplete control).
Now, if we made no pretense of having a coalition, and made it clear this were a 100% USA-run occupation, then the matter would be different. But it’s not, so the decision seems very sound.
And the parting shot about the CIA not being controled by the US gov… wha?
This is a great site. Please try to keep it reasonable and impartial.
The Custer Battles case is a hot topic on blogs everywhere, especially those critical of our judicial system. But fortunately, the bad guys don’t always get away. The average citizen would be amazed to know two things. First, under a unique federal law, if they know someone is defrauding the federal government, they can personally file an action to recover triple the amount of money defrauded, and they may get to keep up to 30% as a reward. Second, most of America’s largest companies ranging from Shell Oil to Walmart have been sued by private persons, and forced to settle for sums as high as $900 Million. To read about every major case in the past 19 years, and to learn about how the law works, people can go to http://www.FederalFraud.com
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Simply put, it holds The Development Fund for Iraq and US oil corporations above the law by rendering any claim or lawsuit brought against them to be “null and void.” Whoever controls the Fund can do anything they want with the money, such as put it in their pocket.
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