Afghans say US firms cheat them

System stacks deck for American contractors

July 10, 2011|By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff

Afghan worker Abdul Tawab said his former boss, Bryan Rhodes, left Afghanistan… (Mikhail Galustov for the…)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Bryan Rhodes’s newly minted business scored a US-funded contract last year to help build a power plant in Kandahar, perhaps the most dangerous and crucial city in the American war effort.

Rhodes hired Afghans to do the work, and his company, IBS, was paid about a half-million dollars when they were done, according to the prime contractor on the project.

Then Rhodes left the country. Now his Afghan workers and vendors say that he owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills and that he has stopped all communication with them.

For Afghans, the problem is all too common. While much US criticism has been leveled at Afghan officials for the country’s seemingly systemic corruption, officials from both countries acknowledge that fraud and mismanagement by American companies also threatens the US mission here. And Afghans who risk their lives by braving Taliban threats to help in the US effort seethe as they walk away from the experience empty-handed.

Rhodes is one of dozens of American contractors being investigated by Afghans after accusations of unpaid debts. “There are so many different cases,’’ said Abdul Safi, an Afghan official with the country’s Investment Support Agency, which is responsible for investigating such complaints. Safi contends some $40 million owed to Afghans has been taken out of the country. He said he has received several complaints about Rhodes.

So far, that investigation has been of little consequence to Rhodes: The Globe found him working in Tunisia, on another US-funded project, this one aimed at boosting the capacity of businesses in North Africa.

Rhodes stopped returning e-mails from the Globe after he was questioned about accusations he failed to pay subcontractors in Afghanistan.

His attorney, Keith Hall Barkley, issued a statement late last week acknowledging that Rhodes owes his vendors but denying any financial wrongdoing. He said IBS is itself owed about $3 million from other contractors in Afghanistan and the company “remains committed to using any and all funds collected from these contractors to pay vendors or suppliers in full.’’

The case raises troubling questions about how to stop contractors accused of failure to pay subcontractors from continuing to get US contracts overseas.

Rhodes passed a criminal background check and reported on his resume that his company in Afghanistan closed due to security concerns, said C. Lynn Robson, chief executive of the Institute for Social and Economic Development. That organization runs the State Department-funded Results Oriented Commercial-Organization Capacity Development, which hired Rhodes for his current job. Robson, who knew Rhodes from her own past work in Afghanistan, said she had not been aware of the complaints.