The former EGL manager who pled guilty early this year to fraud, in overcharging the U.S. military on air cargo shipments into Iraq, has drawn a 30-month prison term.

Christopher Joseph Cahill was ordered to begin serving his term on Oct. 2 and pay a $10,000 fine, said the U.S. Attorney Rodger Heaton for the Central District of Illinois.

Cahill pled guilty in February, saying he had billed for unjustified "war risk" surcharges in 2003 and 2004 on military cargoes EGL was handling from Dubai into Baghdad, as a subcontractor for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root.

EGL has said it was not aware of the fraudulent actions by Cahill, who was then its Mideast regional vice president. The company dismissed Cahill and another employee after the fraud came to light, cooperated with government investigators and was not prosecuted in the case.

Cahill in his plea said he assessed the $1.14 million in war risk fees even though the air carrier he was using did not bill for such a surcharge, and said he then pressed the carrier and an EGL subordinate to help create documents that could support those billings.

EGL has since paid $4 million in overcharge refunds and penalties, and was briefly barred from any new government contracts. Although the company only held that unapproved contractor status for a few weeks last spring, it cost EGL at least one multi-year Army shipments deal that was worth millions of dollars and in final approval stages at the time of Cahill's plea.

Cahill, of Katy, Texas, was prosecuted in Rock Island, Ill., where the Army's logistics unit is based, and sentenced Aug. 30 by federal Judge Michael Mihm.

John D. Boyd