The U.S. Army has suspended a contract with an ammunition supplier, which, according to The New York Times, provided 40-year-old bullets for delivery to the Afghan army. The U.S. Army is investigating, but the Pentagon says it has no reports that the bullets failed to function. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
This undated handout photo provided by the US Army depict the shipments of ammunition to the Afghan National Army
The New York Times says the ammunition for rifles and machine-guns arrived in Afghanistan in decaying cardboard boxes, and that some of it was manufactured as long ago as 1966. The newspaper also says some of the ammunition was made in China, and it may have been illegal for the U.S. government to buy it.
The Times says the bullets were supplied under a $300 million contract awarded to a company called AEY, which the newspaper says has provided ammunition and other equipment to the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies for several years. According to the Times account, the company was founded nine years ago, and now lists the founder's 22-year-old son as its president. The Times says the company obtained much of the ammunition from old communist bloc stockpiles that the State Department and NATO had determined to be both unreliable and obsolete.
A picture on the Times' website shows one box of ammunition it says came from the company, with some of the bullet casings appearing to be badly corroded. The newspaper says Afghan troops were not able to use some of the ammunition, and it quotes an Afghan officer as saying last year that he was "worried" about the quality of a shipment his unit received. The Times also quotes a British expert as saying the quality of such old ammunition varies widely and "would tail off rather dramatically."
But Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman says the U.S. military unit responsible for training and equipping the new Afghan Army has not received reports of U.S.-supplied ammunition failing to perform as it should.
"Age is something that's certainly interesting, but the measure of ammunition, in terms of it being safe and it being effective, and it performing as it's supposed to perform, are the two most important things," he said. "And in this particular case there is no indication that this ammunition hasn't performed to the standard or has posed a safety risk."
The Times quotes an Army officer dealing with acquisitions as saying the ammunition did not undergo standard testing, because it was for foreign-made weapons and the Afghans did not request it.
The Pentagon spokesman could not say whether some of the bullets were procured from China, which could be a violation of U.S. law. But he says the Army is looking into that allegation, along with other aspects of the ammunition provided by AEY, and will determine whether to resume the purchase of its supplies.
Yugoslavian version of the 7.62x39mm cartridge, the standard-issue ammunition for the AK-47, which is the standard-issue rifle of the Afghan National Army.
The United States Army has suspended its contract with a company that delivered old and corroding ammunition from China for use by Afghan army and police forces in a way that violated the contract terms.

The ammunition was supplied by the Miami-based AEY Inc., a company run by a 22-year old named Efrain Diveroli. The nearly US$300 million contract stated that bullets were coming from Hungary, but were actually decades-old, damaged and corroded bullets from China.

Officials from the Army Legal Services Agency notified Diveroli, via a letter, that his company is suspended from future contracting with any U.S. government agency. The letter came as part of an Army investigation since November regarding violation of the contract.

According to the ''New York Times'', Diveroli signed papers back on November 25, 2007 certifying  that 28 pallets of ammunition for Afghanistan had been manufactured by MFS 2000, a Hungarian company, according to a memo written by investigators.

AEY violated the contract by breaking two clauses, one stating that the ammunition could not be acquired directly or indirectly from the People’s Republic of China, which is a violation of American law. The other clause specified that it must be packaged to comply with best commercial practices for international shipment. 

According to the ''Times'', says the ammunition arrived in decomposing cardboard boxes which contained ammunition dating as far back as 1966. However, Army officials believe some ammunition even dates back further to 1962.

The Army had contracted with AEY in January 2007 to supply various types of nonstandard ammunition for use by the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, an Army official said on background. The company was required to purchase the ammunition and deliver it to Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. AEY was recently awarded a delivery order amount of $48,717,553 on March 17, 2007 as part of the $298,004,398 contract.

Also according to the ''Times'', when purchasing the ammunition, AEY worked with middlemen and a shell company which has been placed on federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking. Also, the ''Times'' reported that, Diveroli was secretly recorded in conversation that suggested corruption on his company's purchase of 100 million aging rounds from Albania.

Bryan Whitman, The Pentagon's spokesperson told reporters that suspension of the contract was due to the violation of the origin of the ammunition and the packaging of the ammunition, not the safety and performance.

“Safety and performance has not apparently been a factor, according to our folks in Afghanistan. They have had no safety incidents reported and no reports of any ammunition that has malfunctioned associated with this particular contract,” Whitman told the press.

He also denied that the issue happened because the Army awarded the contract to the lowest bidder and that he was not aware of AEY's qualifications to fulfill the contract.

“As the United States government does business, they are obviously always trying to ensure they get the best value,” he said. “But that does not mean that, in achieving the best value for the taxpayer, that we will accept something that is below standard for what it is we are purchasing, either.” 


According to an Army official, the suspension of the contract will not have an impact on Afghanistan operations and other contractors are expressing interest into entering into a contract.  “Besides, there’s no shortage of ammunition already in Afghanistan. This will have no impact," he said.

Michael Diveroli, Efrain's father, who originally founded AEY as a small printing business, said of his son's career choice to CBS' Miami affiliate, WFOR, "I would prefer he became a nice Jewish doctor or lawyer rather than an arms dealer. He's never asked for my approval on the company. He doesn't always take my advice, I don't influence him. As a father of a boy genius he's hard to control."

Angelo Diveroli, Efrain's grandfather said the young man frequently accompanied him to gun shows when he was younger and became an expert at weapons. 

A friend of Diveroli said to WFOR, "The government came here and checked him out and gave him the contract. How do you give someone, a 21 year old kid a contract like that?"

The United States Army Criminal Investigation Command is continuing their investigation, according to officials.