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By Sumayyah Meehan November 23, 2009 Apparently, pulling one over good ol’ Uncle Sam isn’t that difficult these days. This past week the U.S. Chief District Attorney filed an indictment against a Kuwaiti owned and operated food company that was resplendent in some unsavory criminal charges. According to court papers, Agility (formerly known as the Public Warehousing Company) engaged in dishonest business practices in regard to contracts it won to feed U.S. troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan from 2003-2005.  The court documents revealed that Agility overcharged the U.S. government to the tune of $8.5 million. The U.S. claims that Agility knowingly and willingly inflated the price of food items to almost triple their retail value. The company also instructed its own suppliers to shrink the size of its delivery boxes when fulfilling shipments, so it took double the number of boxes to fulfill one order, which created the perception that more food was being delivered than actually was. Now try saying that three time fast! Agility is not taking the charges sitting down (not even in a diwaniya). The company released a press statement stating that the charges represent a mere “contractual dispute” and fully expects to be cleared of any wrongdoing. In the meantime, Agility has been barred from bidding on new U.S. contracts (which makes up 37% of its profit margin per annum) and is seeking to reinvent itself. The case of fraud against Agility is not the only one pending, as cheating the U.S. government out of its’ own ill-gotten gains seems to be the latest spectator sport to capture the imagination of a global audience. The U.S. Chief District Attorney announced that it is also investigating a case of fraud against KBR, which is a subsidiary of U.S. owned and Dick Cheney sponsored Halliburton. The U.S. government has promised to prosecute fraudulent contractors to the fullest extent of the law. The cases of fraud have shaken both the Pentagon and Congress to their very cores. As a result, America’s centuries-old ability to defraud, pillage and plunder from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan has been seriously diminished. http://www.elanthemag.com/index.php/site/blog_detail/mideast_food_co_rips_off_america-nid149202317/