Friday, March 13, 2009

City's Technology Office Goes Rogue

This one I do not understand. "Ghost" workers, kickbacks, bribes, escape plans to Turkey...all around the office of Technology for the District of Columbia? When did IT jobs go rogue?

What timing...on the heels of the announcement of our old CTO becoming our new Federal CIO. Now, before he could even get any traction, his lackeys in his old office have caused him to take a "leave of absence." What does that mean exactly? I am just curious - why in his new role does he have to take a leave of absence to deal with the outcomes of the investigation from his old role?

This is what it reads in the Post about Yusaf Acar, who is at the center of the investigation:

Acar is a flight risk because agents seized $70,000 in cash in his house and because in recorded conversations, he boasted that he could easily flee to his native Turkey. Acar also told the informant that he could use computers to create fake D.C. birth certificates, Hibarger said.

Fascinating how an Army engineer that was hired ended up being the informant that led to catching this guy:

During a December conversation, Sekela wrote, Acar and the informant discussed what could happen if they were caught. "No, nothing," Acar told the informant, according to a transcript of the call. "I will jump on the next plane, go to Turkey and disappear."

Great, so now we have this guy who was managing the installation of hardware and software for the District of Columbia and he had plans to take the money and disappear in Turkey. This cannot look to good for the city and its background checks on people. Check out Mayor Fenty's response - not exactly reassuring.


1 comment:

Capital Complainer said...

Mayor Fenty orders a "full review?" How about a "full firing?"

http://dcist.com/2009/03/fenty_orders_full_investigation_of.php