August 24, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 10, 1428

NEW YORK, Aug 23: A US Army captain has been arrested in New York on charges of accepting kickbacks in return for steering lucrative supply contracts for the US military in Iraq, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Austin Key, 27, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of bribery for allegedly abusing his position as an ordering and contracting officer while stationed in Baghdad.Key oversaw service and supply contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said, without naming his unit.

In July, Key allegedly asked an unidentified American businessman working with the US military in Iraq for 125,000 dollars to be considered for future contracts.

The businessman alerted US authorities and agreed to meet Key again wearing a recording device. Key then allegedly told the supplier he would provide confidential information on contracts in return for $50,000.

He faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

According to Iraqi anti-corruption investigators, billions of dollars have been lost to financial and administrative graft since 2003, when a US-led invasion toppled former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

In a handful of cases, US military officers have been charged with pocketing millions of dollars in bribes for awarding military contracts.

In one of the worst instances involving a member of the US army, a major was charged last month with taking up to $9.6 million dollars in bribes while working as a contracting officer stationed in Kuwait.—AFP