WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – APL Limited will pay the United States government $9.8 million to resolve False Claims Act violation allegations.
According to the allegations, APL violated the act by failing to properly provide GPS tracking of shipping containers in Afghanistan. APL, an ocean carrier located in Scottsdale, Arizona, is an American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines LTD.
The Department of Defense (DOD) needed shipping containers sent from Karachi, Pakistan to U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. It used APL and wanted them to affix a satellite-tracking device to each container. The DOD claims APL billed DOD for the tracking services despite knowing that the tracking devices were not working properly.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to ensure that contractors doing business with the military perform their contracts honestly,” Principal Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said. “We will continue to ensure that there are appropriate consequences for those who knowingly fail to live up to their bargain and misuse taxpayer funds.”
A coordinated effort led to this settlement. Involved organizations include the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch; the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California, Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit; DOD’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command and DOD’s Defense Contract Audit Agency.