WASHINGTON - The U.S. ambassador to Albania allegedly approved removing evidence of the illegal Chinese origins of ammunition being shipped from Albania to Afghanistan by a U.S. defense contractor, a senior House Democrat said Monday.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the State Department then attempted to conceal that information from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which he chairs.
Waxman's allegation comes three days after the contractor's president, a 22-year-old Miami Beach man named Efraim Diveroli, and three others were charged in federal court with providing the prohibited ammunition to be used by Afghan army and police forces. Diveroli's company, AEY Inc., was paid more than $10 million through a U.S. government contract for 35 shipments of ammunition that prosecutors say was manufactured in China.
Prosecutors contend AEY Inc. removed markings from containers to hide the fact they were manufactured in China. Diveroli certified that the ammunition was manufactured in Albania and submitted an invoice for it, they said.
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