FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ARRESTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES OF TAKING CASH TO AID CONTRACTOR’S REQUEST FOR $6.4 MILLION PAYMENT

A former civilian government employee who worked at the Twentynine Palms Combat Center was arrested by federal authorities in South Carolina, accused of bribery. Investigators say that Nizar Farhat, 63, of Palm Desert, took $34,000 in illegal cash payments from a private contractor to support the contractor’s effort to obtain $6.4 million from the government in connection with construction projects on a Navy base in the African country of Djibouti. Farhat was arrested Friday in South Carolina, where he has been staying. Nizar Farhat is charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on December 4 that charges him with being a public official receiving an illegal gratuity and being a public official receiving compensation from a private party for government services. A judge set his bond at $75,000 Monday morning.