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U.S. defense contractor pays $3.2M to settle whistle-blower lawsuit

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U.S. defense contractor pays $3.2M to settle whistle-blower lawsuit

A federal contractor that supported the U.S. Army in Afghanistan has agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a whistle-blower suit filed under the False Claims Act, in which it is charged with submitting false labor charges, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

The department said Chantilly, Va.-based MPRI Inc., a unit of Reston, Va.-based Engility Corp., was charged with billing for employees who had not worked because they had been granted leave and were out of the country between March 2005 and October 2010.

Under its contract, MPRI was “required to provide support to the Army in its efforts to re-design and build from scratch a new Afghan Defense Sector that would establish an Afghan national security system suitable for a modern Western military,” according to the Justice Department.

The charges against MPRI arose from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act by Byron Scott Lankford, who worked for MPRI in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009 as a finance officer and contract support official. Mr. Lankford will receive $576,000 as his share of the settlement, the department said.

“We will not tolerate contractors that bill for work that is not performed,” said Stuart F. Delery, assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, in a statement. “The Department of Justice will pursue those who do not comply with the terms of their bargain with the government and restore to the taxpayers the full measure of funds falsely claimed.”

Engility “does not admit any liability in conjunction with this settlement,” the company said in a statement. “The contract actions related to the settlement took place under previous management more than two years before Engility was created. The decision to settle was a business decision based upon the company’s desire to resolve the matter and move forward.”