The former chief executive of a District-based company pleaded guilty to his role in a bribery and kickback scheme that shook up the city’s technology office.
Sushil Bansal, the former head of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp., pleaded guilty to bribery of public official charges in the District’s federal court Tuesday morning.
The 42-year-old admitted that he paid more than $700,000 in bribes to District technology office employees between 2005 and 2009. Much of the cash was slipped into the pocket of Yusuf Acar, then chief of security for the District’s technology office. Acar pleaded guilty late last year to accepting more than $550,000 in bribes from Bansal. In exchange, Acar awarded millions of dollars in contracts to Advanced Integrated Technologies. The two also faked invoices and time sheets for Bansal’s “ghost employees” in order to skim money from the city, Bansal admitted. Most of the bribes were paid through companies linked to Acar or controlled by others in the conspiracy. Acar has already agreed to pay back more than $200,000 in stolen money, including $69,000 in cash that was seized at his Northwest Washington home. The FBI began investigating Acar after receiving a tip from a D.C. employee who had been approached to participate in the scheme. The employee agreed to cooperate with investigators and wore hidden recording equipment that documented the fraud, authorities said. The informant told investigators the scam also included buying lesser-quality equipment than was contracted for so the conspirators could pocket the difference, according to court documents. At least 23 contract and full-time employees in the city’s technology office have been fired because of the scandal. It briefly touched Vivek Kundra, who left his post as D.C.’s technology officer a week before the arrests to become the nation’s first chief information technology officer. The White House suspended Kundra while investigators made sure he was not directly involved in the scam. Kundra resumed his duties within a few weeks. Bansal’s sentencing has been scheduled for July 16.
