Seattle freight forwarders pay $2 million penalty.A group of Seattle-area freight forwarders have agreed to pay $2 million in penalties to the U.S. Government as the result of a "whistleblower whis·tle·blow·er or whis·tle-blow·er or whistle blower n. One who reveals wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority: "The Pentagon's most famous whistleblower is . . " complaint. The firms agreed to pay the penalty to settle allegations that they falsely certified their common financial and/or administrative control status to the Military Traffic Management Command A major command of the US Army, and the US Transportation Command's component command responsible for designated continental United States land transportation as well as common-user water terminal and traffic management service to deploy, employ, sustain, and redeploy US forces on a . The settlement stemmed from a whistleblower, or "Qui Tam QUI TAM, remedies. Who as well. When a statute imposes a penalty, for the doing or not doing an act, and gives that penalty in part to whosoever will sue for the same, and the other part to the commonwealth, or some charitable, literary, or other institution, and makes it recoverable by ," lawsuit, filed by the former comptroller of Pan American Products, Inc., which acted as factor for the accounts of the other five freight-forwarding companies. The other firms include: American Eagle Worldwide Forwarders, Inc.; Cascade International, Inc.; Shoreline, Inc.; World International, Inc.; and Northwest Consolidators, Inc.; all of the Seattle area. In addition to the penalty, all six freight forwarders have agreed to permanently withdraw from their participation in the personal property moves of DoD service members and all other programs run by the federal government. The former comptroller who revealed the relationship will receive 17 percent of the settlement amount, or $340,000. The Qui Tam statute allows private parties who reveal allegations of fraud against the government to share in any recovery. The settlement was announced jointly by U.S. attorney Kate Pflaumer and Col. Nonie Cabana, Deputy Chief of Staff for Passenger and Personal Property at MTMC MTMC Military Traffic Management Command (US DoD) MTMC Mount Marty College MTMC Micros-to-Mainframes, Inc. (stock symbol) MTMC Middle Tennessee Medical Center (Murfreesboro, TN) . The government's investigation was led by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. The office received assistance from. the Defense Criminal Investigative Service The Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) is the criminal investigative arm of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Its stated mission is to protect America's warfighters by conducting investigations in support of crucial National , Defense Contract Audit Agency The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), under the authority, direction, and control of the United States Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), is responsible for performing all contract audits for the United States Department of Defense (DoD), and providing accounting and , Army Criminal Investigations Command, and MTMC. In order to be approved for military moves, carriers must disclose to MTMC whether they are under common financial and administrative control with any other household goods carrier or forwarder Forwarder Acts as a travel agent for cargo. A forwarder specializes in arranging the transport and completing required shipping documentation. Some are affiliated with NVOCC services. In the United States they are licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission. , said Cabana. The failure to disclose honestly common controls undermines competition and is a false statement--a criminal offense. "The settlement of this case is an invaluable precedent," said Cabana. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion