Ex-Detroit Official And Ex-Executive Plead Guilty In Demolition Scandal
A former city offcial and an ex-executive at a prominent Detroit demolition firm pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to collectively taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and rigging bids in Detroit's ambitious demolition program.
"When the bidding process on federally funded contracts is corrupted through bribery and fraud by public officials and contractors, it undermines the public’s confidence and eliminates the benefits of open competition,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim in a statement.
“When bribery tips the scales in favor of corrupt bidders, free market competition is harmed to the loss of taxpayers and honest bidders."
Anthony Daguanno and Aradondo Haskins, estimators for Adamo Group of Detroit, were tasked with contacting various subcontractors to get bids for demolition work to be included in Adamo's submissions to the city for the demolition program, according to the court documents. In 2015, Haskins left Adamo to work for the city of Detroit as a field operations manager for the Detroit Building Authority( DBA) where he was the primary point of contact for demolition contractors and he opened and read bids submitted to the city.
Read more: http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/22072/ex-detroit_official_ex-executive_plead_guilty_plead_guilty_in_demolition_scandal
