Image via WikipediaLOS ANGELES – A regional director of construction for Los Angeles Unified School District pleaded guilty today to hiring people he employed in his own business to work for LAUSD, which oversees the largest public works program in the United States.Bassam Raslan, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest and was sentenced by Judge Craig Veals to five years probation, ordered to complete 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution to the Los Angeles Unified School District. The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Edward Miller and Sean Hassett with the Public Integrity Division.
A Grand Jury indictment returned March 30 alleged Raslan and two other LAUSD employees created TBI & Associates, a separate corporation, to profit from the hiring of construction management personnel. The school district manages $27 billion in construction projects.
Between February 2004 and February 2007, while acting as project manager and later Regional Director for the New Construction Branch of LAUSD, Raslan recommended hiring many of his own TBI employees to work on LAUSD construction projects. Raslan's firm allegedly received a portion of the salaries of these employees, a violation of the Government Code Section 1090, conflict of interest.
The indictment alleged that Raslan knew his conduct was a conflict in part because his business partner, Ivan Kesian, was fired from the school district in August 2003 for conflict of interest. Raslan was also required to file conflict of interest reporting forms under LAUSD policy beginning in 2006. LAUSD policy was modified in August of 2003 to prevent some of the conduct in question.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss the remaining eight conflict of interest charges.
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