Exposed: Pentagon awards $630M fuel contract to secretive corporation whose ownership is unknown

[unhappycamper]

Exposed: Pentagon awards $630M fuel contract to secretive corporation whose ownership is unknown
By Eric W. Dolan
Thursday, November 4th, 2010 -- 12:37 pm

The Pentagon awarded a secretive corporation that is under investigation by the United States Congress with a $630 million contract to supply the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan with jet fuel Wednesday.

The contract was awarded despite the request of Kyrgyzstan's president, Roza Otunbayeva, to stop using contractors and work through state-owned Kyrgyz firms instead.

Mina Corporation, which has been awarded over $3 billion dollars in contracts to supply Manas and Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan since 2003, has repeatedly refused to disclose its ownership.

The corporation, and its associated firm, Red Star Enterprises, are controlled by Douglas Edelman, a 58-year-old native of Stockton, California, and Erkin Bekbolotov, a Kyrgyz businessman.

Bekbolotov, a 35-year-old Kyrgyz national, told The Washington Post that his company has a number of offices and employs a staff of about 450, but refused to reveal their locations, citing security concerns.



unhappycamper comment: Things get curious and curiouser.

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Sneer." - xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (RepubliCorp, Inc.)

[RKP5637]

3. Yeah, "Transparency" at work. n/t