A former civilian government employee who worked as a construction manager at the Twentynine Palms Combat Center pleaded guilty Monday (July 12) to two felony charges of taking $37,000 in illegal cash payments from a private contractor in exchange for his support for the contractor’s effort to obtain $6.4 million from the government related to construction projects on a Navy base in the African nation of Djibouti. Nizar Farhat, 63, of Palm Desert, plead guilty to one count of being a public official who received an illegal gratuity and one count of being a public official who received compensation from a private party for government services. Farhat face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is set for October 4. More information on the case is available at the link below.
