Saturday, 09 July – Officials in Justice Department on Thursday said, $7.5 million claims settlement has been paid by an American firm providing security at the US embassy in Afghanistan.
The claims were made against the security guards after they visited brothels in Kabul with the knowledge of company officials.
The payment was made by Armor Group North America Inc. (AGNA) and its affiliates in order to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims for payment on State Department contracts.
But the Justice Department said: “The settlement resolves US claims that in 2007 and 2008, AGNA guards violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by visiting brothels in Kabul, and that AGNA’s management knew about the guards’ activities.”
The settlement also resolves allegations that AGNA misrepresented the prior work experience of 38 guards — third country nationals — that it had hired to watch the embassy.
Mr. James Gordon, who was employed as the director of operations at the company managed to bring the case to light.
Mr. James had been awarded $1.35 million of the settlement proceeds.
In a report issued by the nonprofit Project On Government Oversight (POGO) watchdog said that he US embassy in Kabul was being undermined by a breakdown in discipline and morale among guards.
The report further added, it had obtained emails, photographs, and videos that “portray a Lord of the Flies environment,” referring to the title of the novel by William Golding about stranded schoolboys who turn into savages on a desert island.
The report also said, guards presented POGO with allegations and photographic evidence that some supervisors and guards were engaging in “near-weekly deviant hazing and humiliation of subordinates.”
