Dubai resident arrested abroad in military contract bribery case

Lida Amin, 39, faces a five-year jail term and a US$250,000 if found guilty of conspiring to bribe a public official in exchange for military contracts.

Powered by automated translation

A Dubai resident has been arrested abroad on suspicion of trying to bribe a US air force official into handing over military contracts.

Lida Amin, 39, was detained in Prague at the request of the United States, the FBI said on Thursday.

Ms Amin, who also has an address in Dublin, California, was charged with the bribe conspiracy in the Eastern District of California on August 8 along with her brother, Nabil Amin. They are accused of meeting a US air force contract administrator in Budapest in September last year to discuss obtaining government contracts for payments.

Ms Amin is also charged with three counts of using interstate commerce facilities to aid her bribery activities, according to US district attorney Benjamin B Wagner. 

She is accused of setting up companies and bank accounts in Afghanistan under third-party names to receive proceeds of government contracts obtained by bribery.

Ms Amin is facing extradition to the US. If found guilty, she faces a five-year jail term, a US$250,000 (Dh918,000) fine and a three-year term of supervised release.


osalem@thenational.ae