The Nation - News from Oct. 21, 1988

The House approved and sent to the President’s desk legislation calling for 10-year prison sentences and $10-million fines for major government procurement fraud. “Procurement fraud costs our country hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” Rep. William J. Hughes (D-N.J.) said as the bill passed on a voice vote. The measure, which establishes a new crime of major fraud, applies throughout the government but is designed to respond to recent disclosures of widespread cheating among defense contractors in military procurement.