The findings of the investigation into WorldCom's $11bn accounting hole should bar the company, now called MCI, from being eligible for US government contracts, campaigners have said.
Accountancy Age, 13 Jun 2003
Citizens Against Government Waste insisted that reports published this week by former US Attorney General Richard Thornburgh for the federal bankruptcy court in New York, and by MCI's own special investigative committee, are sufficiently damning for it not to be awarded government business.
'While the evidence continues to mount against MCI, the government keeps on rewarding the company with new contracts,' said Tom Schatz, president of CAGW.
'Americans are being hit twice: first as investors in MCI/WorldCom and then as taxpayers.
'Other companies, such as Enron and Arthur Andersen, have been debarred. There is no reason for the double standard currently being applied to MCI.'
CAGW said that, since filing for bankruptcy, MCI has received more than $750m in federal contracts, making the government the company's largest customer.
WorldCom and US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission have proposed a $500m settlement over the $11bn gap in WorldCom's accounts, two-thirds of its recently won federal contracts.
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