Blackwater used alias to win contracts
Sat Sep 4, 2010 6:26PM
Via
US security company Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, has created an array of 30 bogus subsidiaries to win millions of dollars in government deals, a report says.
The company which gained notoriety for killing unarmed civilians in Iraq, now uses shell affiliates to seize government businesses, The New York Times reported on Friday.
According to the paper, at least three of these fake subsidiaries have won deals with the US Army and the CIA.
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has urged the Justice Department to investigate whether Blackwater has misled the government when using dummy offshoots to obtain government contracts, according to the Times.
Levin's committee has come to realize that Blackwater has done everything to win lucrative government contracts despite criminal charges and criticism rooted in the 2007 bloody incident in Iraq.
The North Carolina-based company's mercenaries opened random fire on Iraqi civilians in September 2007, killing 17 civilians in Iraq in 2007.
Despite the Congress disapproval, the company has managed to strike a 100-million-dollar contract with the CIA to provide security for the agency in Afghanistan.
CIA Director Leon Panetta argued that Blackwater has offered to receive USD 26 million less for the job, leaving no choice for the agency.
At least two Blackwater-affiliated companies, XPG and Greystone, received confidential contracts from the CIA to provide security for agency operatives, The New York Times quoted former Blackwater officials as saying.
"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music"
