FBI raids former offices of Federal CIO

A employee of the District of Columbia's office of the Chief Technology Officer, and a private contractor have been charged with corruption after a FBI raid of OCTO's offices Thursday morning.

Sushil Bansal, President and CEO of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation (AITC), and Yusuf Acar, an information systems security officer, were arrested and charged with corruption charges in a federal bribery sting.

Acar, 40, was arrested at his home in Northwest D.C. Thursday morning.

Acar is being held without bond until a hearing on Tuesday. Prosecutors say $70,000 in cash was found during a search of his home.

Bansal has been released pending a hearing on April 21, but was warned to not engage in any overseas financial transactions.

Authorities say Acar and Bansal, along with others, defrauded the government through a variety of schemes, including billing the city for items that were never delivered and "ghost" contract employees who did not work. The scheme involved falsifying bills and splitting the money with vendors who submitted them, court documents alleged.

In 2008, Bansal's firm received .Net Development Support and Peoplesoft Consulting Support contracts from the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Office totaling $350,000.

AITC has also received contracts from the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles. In 2008, Bansal received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Association of Indians in America, according to AITC's Web site.

WTOP reports there were at least a dozen FBI agents - including evidence technicians - at the office, located at 1 Judiciary Square on 4th Street in Northwest.

Most of the employees were told to go home. According to WTOP, other employees were segregated into a waiting room. Politico.com reports a source tells them the FBI sent all staffers other than senior executives home for the day.

Last week, the Director of the office, Vivek Kundra, was appointed Chief Information Officer by the Obama administration, but has not been linked to the raid. White House Press Secretary wouldn't say if they knew about the investigation when Kundra was nominated.

Acar worked under Kundra, and had a $127,468-a-year position purchasing the city's computer equipment and lining up contract workers for numerous city agencies.

Kundra's last day with the District was February 4th.

The FBI worked with another employee in the city's technology office, who recorded conversations with Acar as part of the investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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On the Web:

WTOP - FBI raids office of D.C. Chief Technology Officer

Politico.com - FBI raids office of D.C. CTO, Obama appointee

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