New York City is suffering once again from a serious case of corruption among its public departments and officials.
It was reported by the New York Post that the city has launched one of the biggest corruption crackdown cases in years after it was discovered that a dozen or so building inspectors and contractors were involved with briberies in exchange for overlooking safety violations, such as mice and roach infestation, missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, dilapidated hallway ceilings and inadequate lighting at a building’s entrances.
According to the Manhattan district attorney and the city’s Department of Investigation, city inspectors and a number of unscrupulous contractors have been charged in what will be described as a trial to take down the current culture of “pay-to-play.” The year-long investigation uncovered allegations that city inspectors expedited projects and signed off on certificates of occupancy. For this, they received a fee, which wasn’t detailed in the reports.
It is reported that approximately 50 defendants have been charged and face an extensive list of bribery counts. The most serious of charges comes with a penalty of imprisonment of up to 15 years. Many of the defendants have already been imprisoned on counts of arson and reckless endangerment.
“Bribery schemes compromised two important City agencies and fair competition in our robust housing and real estate development markets,” said District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance in a statement. “Today’s cases demonstrate that the same surging demand that drives the pace of development can inspire the taking of shortcuts, and the taking of bribes. Working proactively with our partners at DOI and the NYPD, we are rooting out corruption at all levels, and bringing those who abuse their positions of power to justice.”
With the amount of construction projects spiking in the past few years, it has become quite a competitive industry. Records highlight that there has been a 14 percent increase in job filings and a 35 percent in new building permits. However, there was a 20 percent hike in complaints to the building department last year.
Due to the soaring number of complaints, the buildings department took on an additional 10,000 inspections and filed nearly 50,000 building code violations, up 10 percent from the previous year. The city department maintains 185 inspectors, 169 associate inspectors and 49 administrative inspectors, according to the New York Daily News.
Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler reportedly said he was “outraged” on behalf of “more than a thousand honest public servants” at the city department. Chandler noted that a whistleblower within the department assisted in the investigation.
“Today’s arrests and indictments show that we have zero tolerance for corruption and fraud within our city agencies,” said Police Commissioner William J. Bratton. “These building employees held important and trusted positions, but they chose to allegedly circumvent the system and violate the public’s trust to gain a profit. I want to sincerely thank the NYPD’s Organized Crime Investigation Division, the NYC Department of Investigation and the prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for aggressively pursuing this case and holding these individuals responsible for their criminal actions.”
A scheduled date for the trial has not yet been made public.
Mayor Bill De Blasio has made construction a centerpiece of his administration in order to have more affordable housing across the city. The mayor has campaigned on wanting 80,000 new affordable homes and 160,000 new market-rate homes completed within the next decade.
