Folcroft firm raided by Army investigators
Investigators from the Army Criminal Investigation Command on Thursday raided the headquarters of NP Precision in Folcroft, a defense contractor that manufactures rotors and landing gear for Boeing's CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter.
Investigators from the Army Criminal Investigation Command on Thursday raided the headquarters of NP Precision in Folcroft, a defense contractor that manufactures rotors and landing gear for Boeing's CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter.
Army investigators and other federal agents swooped down on the company about 9 a.m., said Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the Army agency.
Grey declined to say why the company was being investigated.
NP Precision specializes in manufacturing high-tolerance components and assembling transmissions, rotors, and landing gear for the aerospace, defense, and weapons systems industries, according to its website.
Its clients include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Columbia Helicopters, and the Army and Navy.
Boeing's CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter is manufactured at its plant in Ridley Township.
Grey cautioned that an investigation "does not necessarily imply guilt or innocence."
The president and CEO of NP Precision have been in the news in the past.
In 1993, Ken Narzikul, then president of Tura Machine Co. in Folcroft, was sentenced to four months of house arrest for paying $120,000 in kickbacks to a federal contractor and $19,804 in hush money to a potential witness against him.
The indictment alleged Narzikul gave cash and gifts over 10 years ending in 1990 to employees of Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. in Livingston, N.J., and Boeing so the companies would award government subcontracts to the now-defunct Tura.
He was charged with conspiring to pay kickbacks, mail fraud, obstruction of a criminal investigation, and money-laundering in a scheme prosecutors said was begun by Narzikul's father, Jay, who died in 1989.
Like NP Precision, Tura made helicopter and other aircraft parts for Boeing, including parts for the controversial V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
Narzikul pleaded guilty to paying $120,000 to Rosario "Roy" Crimando, a Foster Wheeler employee. He also pleaded guilty to paying $19,804 to Frederick Knoll, Tura's former controller, to keep him quiet about the illegal payments to Crimando and other financial irregularities.
He was also suspended from participating in government contracts. During his trial, his brother, Sied Joseph Narzikul, said the company was now owned by their mother, Mary.
The website for NP Precision says it is a small "woman-owned" company.
Narzikul's partner in NP Precision, Nicholas Emper, is a lawyer who was disbarred in August 2000. Because he agreed to stop practicing law before the state Supreme Court's disciplinary board held a hearing against him, the reason for the resignation is sealed, said Elaine Bixler, secretary of the board.
A person who answered the phone at NP Precision on Thursday said Emper had not come in to work, Narzikul was traveling in New England, and no one else was available.