Former employee of Obama CIO pick busted for bribery
PrintAppointee not linked to wrongdoing
Posted in Government, 12th March 2009 20:11 GMT
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An employee who worked for President Obama's pick for federal CIO has been arrested by the FBI and charged in a federal bribery sting, according to news reports.
Yusuf Acar, 40, was taken custody Thursday under suspicion of soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for awarding contracts, according to The Washington Post and other publications.
Acar was an information-systems security officer in the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Until recently, he worked for Vivek Kundra, who left the office over a month ago to become Obama's federal chief information officer.
Kundra is not suspected of any wrongdoing, press reports said.
Also arrested was Sushil Bansal, president and CEO of Advanced Integrated Technologies. In June, the company was awarded a one-year $10m (£7.2m) contract to provide IT services, equipment, and software to the DC government. The company had previously won contracts worth more than $6.6m (£4.7m), according to The Post, which cited DC council records.
Sources told the paper that Acar received bribes in exchange for awarding contracts to Bansal's company. The company is also accused of employing "ghost employees" who did no work. Acar has worked for the city since 2004 and earns $127,468 (£91,375) per year.
Federal agents began investigating the pair about a year ago. ®
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