Agility confirms US move to dismiss charge vs unit

Agility confirms US move to dismiss charge vs unit

Co confirms move to dismiss indictment against unit

August 8, 2010 1:18 by Reuters

Kuwait’s logistics firm Agility on Sunday confirmed that U.S. prosecutors have moved to dismiss fraud indictments against its subsidiary, Agility Holdings.

Agility, formerly Public Warehousing Co, K.S.C. (PWC) was dropped from supplying food to the U.S. Army in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan after being accused of overcharging the military.

The company held contracts worth $8.5 billion spanning more than three years.

“Further to the Kuwait Stock Exchange release dated July 27 2010, we are writing to confirm that United States Attorney’s Office in Atlanta moved to dismiss the indictment against Agility ‘Holdings’, an Agility Public Warehousing Company KSC subsidiary,” the company said in a statement to the Dubai bourse.

The company said it could not confirm or explain a report in local magazine MEED that led the Kuwait Stock Exchange to suspend trading in its stock pending clarification.

MEED said U.S. prosecutors had moved to dismiss indictments against the Kuwait-based company, which was understood to mean the charges were dropped against the parent firm.

“We have no way of confirming what evidence MEED relied upon to reach their findings,” Agility said in a letter signed by Chairman Tarek Sultan.

The subsidiary, Agility DGS Holdings, has pleaded not guilty to the sealed indictment.

Agility has said it is still negotiating a settlement with the U.S. government, but it is not clear if it could lead to lifting the ban on bidding for any new contracts.

Two companies are keen to grab the work, Kuwaiti logistics firm KGL, and Dubai-based ANHAM FZCO LLC that has already won a contract.

Kuwait, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, has become a major logistics base for the U.S. military since the 1991 Gulf War that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation.

(Reporting by Diana Elias; Editing by Dinesh Nair and Jason Neely)