Bidding wars for defense contracts make particularly fertile ground for corruption, and a federal employee may have gotten caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. Federal authorities have accused an Afghanistan-based U.S. Department of Defense employee of taking a bribe from a company there in exchange for helping to secure a government contract. The suspect was caught with a backpack stuffed with $95,000 in alleged bribe money.

Reuters reports the suspect, chief of fire and emergency services for the department, pleaded not guilty to the charge. Prosecutors contend that he provided the bid numbers that competing businesses submitted, allowing the company he was working with to make the lowest bid to win the contract.

Investigators were tipped off several weeks ago about the allegations.

Defense Department employee accused of $95,000 bribe [Reuters]

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