Scandal in New York: 70 employees of a public social housing agency were accused of corruption

State authorities NY They reported one of the biggest hits this Tuesday Corruption In the public system, after some 66 employees and former employees Housing Authority They will be detained. This is the largest number of federal bribery charges filed in a single day in the history of the local Justice Department.

In the last few hours, the New York justice launched an operation against the country’s largest social housing agency, charging 70 of its workers with bribery, extortion and awarding of contracts. In Tuesday’s operation, police arrested dozens of individuals in New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina and New York alone, who must now testify at the Southern District Court prosecutor’s office in Manhattan, which is in charge of the investigation.

Certainly, the file points out the defendants for “accepting cash payments from contractors in lieu of awarding contracts” to this public agency, charged with providing cost-controlled social housing in one of the world’s most expensive cities. In fact, the weight of this entity in the state is such that it reaches 1 in every 17 residents, who would otherwise not be able to withstand the high prices of the real estate market.

According to prosecutor Damian Williams after the first investigation, the scheme operated between 2013 and 2023 – i.e. for a decade -, a time in which those involved took advantage of lower-value contracts due to the reduction of restrictions imposed on them. . In order to speed up the administrative procedures regarding the renovation work on the 335 houses of the old complex managed by the entity – which has been delayed – the authorities ordered that the contract be at a lower level. USD 10,000 They do not need to go through the bidding process.

However, this loophole in control allowed corrupt officials to run their own business and make demands close to it 10 and 20% of each contractWilliams continued. “Contracts are relatively small so sometimes cash payments are in between 500 and 2,000 dollars”, he explained in that sense.

Thanks to this, the plan would have allowed these 70 people to get some in full USD 2 millionThat stems from awarding dozens of contracts without bidding for more than $13 million.

However, this is not the first controversy involving the New York Housing Authority, which manages housing for about 400,000 people. Being the largest agency on the subject in the entire country, it has about 12,000 employees and a budget of more than USD 3.3 billion, of which USD 1.5 billion comes from the federal government.

Despite these statistics, in the past, NYCHA has already been accused of not properly maintaining its older buildings, not addressing rodent problems in institutions, or preventing damage to elevators, heating systems or pipes.

In their defence, the agency assured that, if all necessary reforms are carried out, some USD 78 billion and a window of at least two decades to carry them out will be required.

(With information from AFP)