De onoplettendheidscommissie van het huis Voorzitter Henry A. Waxman breidde zijn inspanning uit om privé veiligheidscontractant Over de hele wereld Blackwater gisteren te onderzoeken die, een breed opgezet federaal onderzoek in de de werkgelegenheidspraktijken van het bedrijf verzoekt. In brieven aan de Dienst van de Fiscus, het Kleine Commerciële Beleid en de Afdeling van de Arbeid, vroeg Waxman (D-Calif.) de classificatie van Blackwater van zijn arbeiders als „onafhankelijke contractanten“ eerder dan werknemers. Die benoeming, die de overheid in het verleden heeft gevraagd, heeft het bedrijf toegestaan om $144 miljoen in contractenterzijde leggen voor kleine ondernemingen te verkrijgen en te vermijden betalend zo veel zoals $50 miljoen in het inhouden belastingen in het kader van de contracten van de Afdeling van de Staat, hij zei.

A Blackwater spokeswoman called Waxman’s allegations “completely without merit” and said the company regrets his “decision to publicly air misleading information.” An IRS spokesman declined to comment. The allegations came as a team of Justice Department and FBI investigators completed a two-week visit to Baghdad, where they interviewed additional witnesses in connection with a Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater security personnel guarding U.S. diplomats killed 17 civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle.

Although a grand jury was convened late last year in the case, federal prosecutors have not determined whether the contractors can be prosecuted under U.S. law. They are immune from Iraqi prosecution under a decree promulgated by the former U.S. occupation government in Iraq.The incident prompted criticism of the use of private security contractors by both the State and Defense departments. As a result, State promised to increase supervision of their activities, and the two departments developed comprehensive guidelines for them.

In Senate testimony late last month, administration officials said that 163,590 contractor personnel were working in Iraq under Defense contracts, slightly more than the number of U.S. troops there. Of those, 6,467 are armed security personnel, about 1,500 of them American citizens. State Department security contractors total 1,518, about half of them Americans. The officials said that many of the rest are British and South African. An additional 32,520 Defense contractor personnel are working in Afghanistan.

Blackwater, one of three U.S. companies that provide security for U.S. diplomats and official civilians in Iraq, has received nearly $1.25 billion in federal contracts from State and other agencies since 2000. According to Waxman, Blackwater has received contracts set aside for companies with fewer than 1,500 employees after self-certifying its own status. The addition of nearly 1,000 personnel in Iraq would put it over the Small Business Administration limit, but Blackwater has insisted that they are independent contractors it merely pays to work for the U.S. government. That designation allows the company to avoid withholding federal income tax from what company records have indicated is $1,222 per day the guards are paid.

Waxman also charged that Blackwater was violating Labor Department affirmative action regulations by withholding its employment records. In its statement, Blackwater said that its “classification of its personnel is accurate” and that it has “always been forthcoming about this aspect of its business with its customer, the U.S. government.”

Washington Post

Comment on 'Blackwater’s Employment Investigated' :

RSS TrackBack URL

Related News: