Washington, Oct 19: The US authorities have arrested two former high-ranking Pentagon officials, on charges of bribery, money-laundering and witness tampering in a suspected scheme involving the awarding of contacts to minority firms.
The two officials -- Robert Lee Neal Jr (50) and Francis
Delano Jones Jr (40) were charged with netting more than 1.1
million dollar in illicit profits and defrauding the
government, US attorney Paul J. Mcnulty said.
"Those who hold public offices at high-levels of the
Pentagon owe the highest duties of loyalty to the public and
to our men and women who have the distinction of serving in
uniform," he said.
Mcnulty said Neal and Jones "abused" their public
offices.
The two men held management positions at the Pentagon's
office of small and disadvantaged business utilization, a 28
million dollar annual programme, in the Clinton
administration.
Bureau Report
