U.S. Civilian Translator Arrested For Offering Bribe To Iraqi Police Official
The Justice Depatment announced on Friday that an employee of a Titan Corporation working in Iraq as a translator has been arrested on a charge of offering to bribe an Iraqi police official. According to Justice, Faheem Mousa Salam, 27, of Livonia, Michigan, was arrested at Dulles International Airport on Thursday upon returning from Iraq. He was charged with offering to bribe a foreign official under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Salam is a naturalized U.S. citizen employed by Titan Corporation, and had been living in Baghdad, Iraq.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia, Salam offered a senior Iraqi police official approximately $60,000 for the official’s assistance with facilitating the purchase by a police training organization of approximately 1,000 armored vests and a sophisticated map printer for approximately $1 million. The complaint alleges that Salam later made final arrangements with an undercover agent of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction – posing as a procurement officer for the multinational Civilian Police Assistance Training Team (CPATT) in Iraq – for the map printer and vests, along with a separate $28,000 to $35,000 “gift” to process the contracts.
The maximum sentence for a charge of violating the FCPA is five years in prison plus a $100,000 fine or twice the gross gain, whichever is greater.