Army Contractor Pleads Guilty to Kickback and Fuel Theft Schemes with U.S. Army Officers in Iraq

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that HARITH ALJABAWI, a/k/a “Harry,” pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge JOHN F. KEENAN in Manhattan federal court to charges stemming from his payment of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to a U.S. Army Officer in exchange for being awarded over $500,000 in U.S. Government contracts in Iraq, and for bribing a U.S. Army officer to help him steal approximately 165,000 gallons of fuel from Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. ALJABAWI also pleaded guilty to making false statements on an application for a Department of Defense identity card that would allow access to United States installations in Iraq, and to making false statements during the Government’s investigation of the fuel theft bribery.

AL-JABAWI, 36, of the Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to provide a bribe to a public official, two counts of providing bribes to a public official, and two counts of making materially false statements. AL-JABAWI faces a maximum combined sentence on all counts of 50 years’ imprisonment.

Mr. DASSIN praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys LOYAAN A. EGAL and PABLO QUIÑONES are in charge of the prosecution.