Reporting about the quiet case of Glenn Powell pleading guilty yesterday to taking a kickback of more than $100,000 from an Iraqi contractor leaves one wondering what unnamed Iraqi company put up the bribe.
Powell worked for KBR from October 2003 until Jan. 6, 2005 when KBR claims to have discovered his wrongdoing and relieved him of his position.

“When KBR learned that one of its employees was allegedly receiving improper payments from a subcontractor, the company initiated an investigation, the employee was questioned and admitted wrongdoing,” the company said in a statement. “KBR immediately terminated the individual’s employment and reported the issue to government investigators.” — The Houston Chronicle

Powell is described as a “project manager” in a story about Iraq contractors in a July 26, 2004, Engineering News-Record while the contract involving a kickback to Powell is said to have occurred on July 24 of that year.
There may be more to come on this and other allegations of under-the-table deal making by KBR employees:

Several other KBR managers in Kuwait have quit or were fired in mysterious circumstances in what appears to be a major house-cleaning, once the news started to circulate about overcharging and fraud.
The first indication of these problems came in December 2003, when Halliburton publicly announced that it had returned $6.3 million to the military and admitted to the Pentagon that two unnamed KBR employees had taken kickbacks in return for a lucrative contract from an unnamed Kuwaiti company.
An internal KBR memo, dated May 2003, also cautioned employees not to “discard, shred, delete or dispose” of any documents relating to La Nouvelle and two other companies – Altanmia and Tamimi. Both companies have also been accused of possible overcharges in their billings.
In November 2004, Halliburton filed a declaration with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that the Pentagon would be investigating two employees who worked on the Iraq contracts.
“The Inspector General’s Office may investigate whether these two employees may have solicited and/or accepted payments from these third-party subcontractors while they were employed by us,” the company stated. Once again, no names were disclosed. — CorpWatch