Investigations

On October 3, 2017, Talib Lokhandwala, former senior director of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), which is part of the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), was charged by information in U.S. District Court, Brooklyn, New York, and pleaded guilty to bribery charges involving multiple contractors on MTA projects that received Federal Transit Administration grant funds.

 

Lokhandwala admitted to receiving bribe payments from contractors that were scheduled to perform construction work on train stations in New York City. He and his wife created a consulting company named Bhavna Associates for the sole purpose of receiving and disguising these payments. Lokhandwala admitted that between March 2009 and May 2015, he received a total of $152,400 in checks from several contractors in exchange for favorable treatment. He was the construction manager assigned to their projects and helped them expedite work orders and engineer’s drawings, submit bid packages, and facilitate any issues that arose. He received most of the bribe payments at his NYCTA office.

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with MTA-OIG.