June 29 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday threw out a suit brought by a former General Electric employee who claimed the Dodd-Frank Act's whistleblower provisions protected him from being terminated for complaining about potential corruption at the energy giant's Iraq operations.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston ruled that the act's anti-retaliation statute did not apply to the claims of Khaled Asadi, who coordinated with Iraq's government to secure energy service contracts for GE.

The decision is one of a handful to interpret the scope of the statute's whistleblower provisions and the extent to which they protect employees from retaliation. The ruling also marks one of the first times a court has held the law does not apply to whistleblowing that takes place overseas.

Sean Gannon, a spokesman for GE Energy, welcomed the court's ruling.

"We believe legitimate whistleblowers deserve to have their claims treated with respect and investigated vigorously," Gannon said in an email. "We also believe individuals who concoct retaliation claims to advance their personal agendas ultimately do a huge disservice to open reporting and people who are legitimately raising valid concerns."

Ronald Dupree, a lawyer for Asadi, said he was disappointed with the ruling and would evaluate his options, which could include an appeal.

According to the complaint, Asadi said in June 2010 that one of his Iraqi contacts told him about issues related to GE's hiring of Iman Mahmood, a woman the complaint said had "close ties" to Ra'ad al-Haris, the deputy minister of electricity in Iraq.

Al-Haris had been overseeing negotiations for a $250 million sole-source contract with GE, the complaint said. Asadi said his contact made him aware of concerns within the Iraqi government that GE had hired Mahmood "in order to curry favor" with al-Haris during the contract talks.

BROADER DEFINITION

Worried that Mahmood's hiring could damage negotiations and that it might violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Asadi said he reported his concerns to his supervisor and GE's ombudsman.

The FCPA is a U.S. law that makes it illegal for companies to bribe foreign officials.

Asadi subsequently received a negative performance review and was fired in June 2011, the complaint said.

He sued GE Energy in February, claiming his termination violated the whistleblower retaliation provision in the Dodd-Frank Act. The provision, which was part of the 2010 financial reform law's new incentives for whistleblowers, allows employees to sue companies who fire them as a result of their complaints.

GE argued that Asadi did not qualify as a whistleblower under the law, which requires that possible violations be reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Asadi countered that complaining to his superiors was sufficient to bring a retaliation claim.

In her 25-page decision Thursday, Atlas declined to rule on that issue, holding instead that Dodd-Frank did not apply to whistleblower activity outside of the United States.

The judge relied heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, which held that investors could not bring claims in U.S. courts involving securities bought in foreign countries. While Morrison focused on securities law, lower courts have applied the decision in other types of cases.

If Asadi appeals, his case would go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court is already considering whether Morrison applies to Dodd-Frank's anti-retaliation clauses in an appeal of a decision by a U.S. Labor Department administrative appellate panel.

The case is Asadi v. GE Energy (USA), LLC, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, No. 12-cv-00345.

For Khaled Asadi: Ronald Dupree Jr., Dupree Law Firm.

For GE: Linda Addison and Darryl Anderson, Fulbright & Jaworski.

(Reporting By Nate Raymond)

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