Shwan Al-Mulla, a british National Charged in case of Bribery by the US Justice Department

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the criminal charge against an Iraqi-born British national on Wednesday. Shwan Al-Mulla is currently ....

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the criminal charge against an Iraqi-born British national on Wednesday. Shwan Al-Mulla is currently criminally charged in New Jersey for his involvement in a bribery scheme meant to obtain millions of dollars of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reconstruction contracts in Iraq.

There are allegations against the defendant and his conspirators of having received confidential information that gave them an edge in the bidding process. This information was made accessible to them via $1 million bribes that they paid from 2007 to 2009 to a USACE employee deployed in Tikrit, Iraq.

There are currently seven counts of honest wire fraud and one of conspiracy for committing bribery against Al-Mulla, the owner of Baghdad-based Iraqi Consultants and Construction Bureau. Each of these counts against him carried a maximum of 20-year prison term and was announced by the acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig in New Jersey.

John Salama Markus, a citizen residing in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, is the USACE employee that pleaded guilty to money laundering, tax offenses in 2012 and is currently serving his 13-year prison term. Shwan Al-Mulla’s alleged co-conspirator, Ahmed Nouri, also pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in 2018. For solving the matter, ICCB has paid $2.7 million in 2013 to the Justice Department for violating the federal False Claims Act by paying bribes to Salma Markus.

U.S. Attorney’s office confirmed by saying Al-Mulla is at large. At the same time, a lawyer for Al-Mulla was not located for their comments.