Detroit -- District officials said today they will file a suit in Wayne County Circuit Court to force testimony from witnesses who have refused to participate in hearings targeting questionable real estate deals.
"When we began these investigative hearings, we made clear that our goal was to shed light on questions surrounding a series of real estate deals and practices that seriously needed light shed upon them," Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb said. "We are, quite simply, just looking for answers."
Bobb ordered an investigation as part of his efforts to root out waste and mismanagement in the district.
AdvertisementHe has held five public hearings as officials look into questionable real estate deals organized under previous administrations and how a 1994 bond issue was spent.
Among the deals under scrutiny are the $24.1 million purchase of space in the Fisher Building even though the Farbman Group only paid $21 million for the building a year earlier, paying $5.6 million for land to be used for the new Cass Tech and Detroit School of Arts although the city determined the land was worth $812,000.
Those properties were bought and flipped by two other companies -- sometimes within one day -- before being sold to the school district, each time with the price ratcheted up.
"From my earliest moments in Detroit, a recurring set of concerns and questions were brought to my attention, and later to the attention of Inspector General John Bell through his tiplines, regarding the use of public funds on a series of real estate transactions emanating from the 1994 bond issue," Bobb said.
"These matters involved a huge investment of public funds -- out of the some $1.5 billion bond issue. As such, the public has a right to know how these funds were spent, particularly in light of allegations involving questionable transactions."
http://detnews.com/article/20091119/SCHOOLS/911190439/DPS-to-file-lawsuit-for-witness-testimony-in-real-estate-probe
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TTNAE urges anyone with information about corruption in DPS to contact the DPS Emergency Financial Manager or a member of his team.