WHO IS VIVEK KUNDRA?
The Obama Administration is worried that yet another senior
appointee has run into potential ethics issues one week into his
new job.
According to one White House source, the Obama Administration
asked its newly appointed chief technology officer to take a
leave until the Department of Justice could provide the
administration with additional information surrounding an FBI
raid at the officer’s former workplace, the Washington, D.C.
Office of the Chief Technology Officer.
CTO Vivek Kundra had resigned from his D.C.
post earlier this month to take the White House job; last
Thursday the FBI raided the D.C. office, arresting Yusuf
Acar, the acting chief security officer of the D.C.
Office of the CTO, who was later charged with bribery of a public
official, money laundering, wire fraud and conflict of interest.
The FBI reported finding $70,000 in Acar’s Northwest D.C. home.
When the White House was given head’s up about the raid, the
Justice Department informed the White House that Kundra was not a
target of the investigation, but there are concerns at 1600
Pennsylvania that as more people are swept up in the burgeoning
scandal, their appointee may get caught.
Also arrested, and complicating the White House’s issues with
Kundra, was Sushil Bansal, CEO of Advanced
Integrated Technologies Corporation (AITC), who also faces
bribery related charges.
Bansal is not a U.S. citizen, and is working here on a visa
provided to foreign workers in “specialty” professions. Bansal’s
company has done work for the D.C. government since 2004, prior
to Kundra’s taking over the technology office. But when Kundra
did take over the office, AITC’s business more than doubled.
“What concerns us and the White House Counsel’s office is that
Kundra and Bansal seem to have a very tight relationship that was
not discussed during the vetting process,” says the White House
source. The White House has determined that Kundra and Bansal
also did business prior to Kundra’s taking the D.C. job. When
Kundra worked for Science Applications International Corporation
(SAIC), it was as a consultant for a project at U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS). Bansal’s firm provided
support to SAIC’s contract work at HHS.
“We’re still sorting things out,” says the White House source.
“But there appears to be a lot more to be cleared up than we
originally thought.”
RETRACTION
Over the weekend, The Prowler
was contacted by a longstanding source on Capitol Hill, who has
worked in House Republican leadership for several years. He
detailed a story of a fundraiser that he claimed was held by
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, hosted by Clark
Country, Washington, Republican officials in Bellevue, Washington
on March 5th, at the expense of Rep. Dave
Reichert, who is expecting a tough re-election fight in
2010, and who had previously sought Jindal’s appearance for a
fundraiser.
Our Capitol Hill source provided a local Washington State
contact, who claimed that the event had taken place, going so far
as to detail dollar amounts raised, and provided calendar entries
and schedules to confirm that appeared to confirm the event. We
have since learned that the information provided was false, and
that the Clark County event for Jindal was canceled.
We apologize to Governor Jindal and his supporters for
disseminating inaccurate information.
