Prosecutors reviewing conflict allegations with L.A. school construction
Feb 28, 2008 11:57 AM
The Los Angeles County district attorney's Public Integrity Unit is
reviewing whether a high-level consultant for the Los Angeles Unified School
District's building program engaged in a conflict of interest. The public
integrity unit has been looking at Bassam Raslan, a district regional director
of construction and an owner of TBI Associates, which he co-founded to supply
staff to the district's $20 billion school construction effort. The district's
inspector general launched a fraud investigation last year regarding those
allegations, but has not released any reports on the subject.
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The Los Angeles Times article.
FROM JUNE 2007: Some of the most prominent companies in the construction industry bid
regularly to supply consultants to manage the Los Angeles Unified School
District's massive school building program. Leading the pack in placing
consultants is a small, 5-year-old company owned by two men who work for the
school district as managers in the construction program that is responsible for
hiring consultants. TBI Associates, which is under scrutiny by the district's
inspector general for allegations of timecard fraud, supplies 38 of those 311
contract employees now working for the district, more than any of the 64 other
firms that bid to supply consultants. (Los Angeles Times)
EARLIER:
The Los Angeles Unified School District has limited the authority of
one of its senior-level construction managers to supervise consultants that he
supplies to the district through a private firm he operates. The district has
decided that a higher-ranking manager will review timecards for consultants
hired from TBI Associates when they are signed by Bassam Raslan, one of the
company's owners and a district regional director of construction. The district
is awaiting the results of an investigation by its inspector general before
deciding whether to take action against Raslan or one of his consultants,
Stephen Cole, who records show billed for dozens of days when he was absent from
his principal job site. (Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Unified School District allows one of its
highest-ranking construction managers to run a side business supplying
consultants to the $20 billion school-building program and, in some cases, to
act as the prime watchdog over the accuracy of the hours they bill. In one case,
records show that Bassam Raslan, L.A. Unified regional director of construction,
repeatedly signed timecards for one staffer from his private firm, TBI
Associates, after the consultant's direct supervisor said he refused because he
believed they were padded. Raslan is a co-owner of the 5-year-old company, which
makes a profit providing consultants to the school district at an average rate
of $124 per hour. (Los Angeles Times)
