The city is set to launch one of the biggest corruption crackdowns in years Tuesday, sweeping up a dirty dozen building inspectors on bribery charges, the Daily News has learned.
The city Department of Investigation and the Manhattan district attorney plan to charge the city inspectors and a gaggle of dirty contractors in a long-ranging probe that’s targeted what sources described as a culture of pay-to-play.
Up to 50 defendants are expected to be charged and face a long list of bibery counts following a yearlong probe by DOI in conjunction with the DA’s rackets division.
The charges, to be announced Tuesday by DOI Commissioner Mark Peters and Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., detail a pervasive bribery scheme that’s been playing out across the city for years, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Investigators uncovered a disturbing pattern of give-to-get, where inspectors would expedite projects and sign off on certificates of occupancy — for a fee.
Construction work has increased dramatically in the last few years, with a 14% jump in job filings in fiscal 2014 and a 35% increase in new building permits, records show.
There’s been a concurrent spike in complaints to the building department, up nearly 20% in fiscal 2014, from 58,900 to more than 70,000.
Because of the increase in complaints, the buildings department made an extra 10,000 inspections and issued more than 47,700 building code violations — a 10% spike.
The buildings department currently has 185 inspectors, 169 associate inspectors, and 49 administrative inspectors, records show.
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