(Atlanta, Ga.)– The Department of Justice says a farming equipment manufacturer that has ties to the region has agreed to pay $1.6 million dollars for paying kickbacks to the former Iraqi government to secure United Nations oil-for-food contracts.
Federal prosecutors had filed conspiracy charges against Duluth, Georgia-based Agco, which owns a manufacturing plant in Jackson. However, under the agreement announced Wednesday, the charges will be dropped in three years if the company cooperates with authorities.
According to the agreement, Agco paid about $553,000 to the former government of Iraq to secure three contracts between 2000 and 2003. The contract prices were inflated by as much as 21 percent before they were submitted for U.N. approval. The U.N. then paid out the extra money to Agco, which was then used to pay kickbacks to the former Iraqi agriculture minister.
(Story from the Associated Press.).
