Sunday, August 23, 2009

White Collar Rendition for Small Fry


The Obama administration renditioned Raymond Azar for bribing military purchasing employees. In a sting operation, Azar paid $106,000 in kickbacks to an Army Corps of Engineers official. His employer, Sima Salazar Group, is also under indictment,

An Army general stated the rough treatment should serve as a warning for other fraudulent contractors. Maybe, Mr. Azar didn't have enough money to buy special treatment.

Consider the cases of Chiquita Brands and The Carlyle Group/Riverstone Holdings. Chiquita Brands sponsored Colombian terrorists. It paid a $25 million fine. No rendition. No indictment.

Carlyle and its energy joint venture, Riverstone, paid a combined $50 million to make a pension bribery scandal go away. No rendition. No indictment.

Halliburton has a facilitating payments policy, i.e. the firm pays bribes to advance work in foreign countries. What practice wins out in a grease happy global economy? Who gets kid glove treatment when caught? The big money boys.

Small guys get fried, including the taxpayer. Azar and a CIA agent could've flown commercial. At what cost savings? Don't tell me the administration made the run to keep their renditioning skills sharp.