From the Winston-Salem Journal
A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.
The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Pentagon records show.
The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, S.C. - twin sisters - exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled "priority"? were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.
The price the military paid for each item shipped rarely reached $100 and totaled just $68,000 over the six years in comparison with the $20.5 million paid for shipping, she said.
The scheme unraveled in September after a purchasing agent noticed a bill for shipping two more 19-cent washers: $969,000. That order was rejected and a review turned up the $998,798 payment earlier that month for shipping two 19-cent washers to Fort Bliss, Texas
The Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency orders millions of parts a year. "These shipping claims were processed automatically to streamline the re-supply of items to combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,"? the Justice Department said in a press release announcing yesterday's verdict.
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