Wajdi Birjas, Corruption, Indiana 2023

State: Federal
Category: Public Corruption
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-defense-department-contract-employee-sentenced-35-months-prison-participating" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

A former contract employee of the U.S. Defense Department has been sentenced to 35 months in prison for his participation in a bribery and money laundering scheme at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

Wajdi Birjas, 41, of Evansville, Ind., was sentenced on August 11, 2010 by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in the Southern District of Indiana.

Birjas pleaded guilty to one count of bribery conspiracy and one count of money laundering conspiracy. He was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $650,000.

According to court documents, Birjas was a contract employee in the Host Nation Affairs office at Camp Arifjan between approximately 2004 and August 2007. During this time, he developed corrupt relationships with certain U.S. Army contracting officials, including Sergeant First Class Richard Evick, who was deployed to Camp Arifjan as the senior procurement non-commissioned officer, Major Christopher Murray, and Major James Momon.

Birjas admitted to paying Murray approximately $90,000, paying Evick approximately $22,000, and paying for Evick’s and Momon’s airplane and hotel expenses to allow them to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Dubai. He also allowed Momon to hide approximately $680,000 worth of his bribe money in Birjas’s safe at the villa.

The case against Birjas arose out of an investigation into corruption at the Army contracting office at Camp Arifjan, which has led to charges against 19 individuals, all of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Peter C. Sprung, Edward J. Loya Jr., Eric G. Olshan, and Timothy J. Kelly of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. The case was investigated by special agents of the DCIS, the Army Criminal Investigation Command Division, the FBI, and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

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