The White House is taking no chances whatsoever of preserving its image after yesterday's FBI raid of the office of D.C.'s chief technology officer. It has placed its technology czar, Vivek Kundra -- who held the chief technology officer position until his recent White House appointment -- on leave indefinitely, even though the FBI has said that Kundra himself is not under investigation or suspected of any wrongdoing.
Ouch.
The raid was the culmination of an FBI investigation that has been under way for some time involving a mid-level manager, Yusuf Acar, who has been charged with bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and conflict of interest. Also charged was the business executive, Sushil Bansal, with whom Acar was allegedly having corrupt dealings. Real dirty stuff, see:
Acar approved work with a vendor, such as Bansal's AITC, to arrange the purchase of goods such as software. The vendor ordered fewer items but billed the District for a larger amount. Bansal, Acar and others then split the proceeds, FBI officials said.
Well, tough economy, so it was worth a shot.
But now this represents a Major Ethical Quandary for the Obama administration, or something like that, so its professional Internet nerd who used to run the D.C. Internet needs to scoot along:
An official with the Obama administration, which has made strengthening government ethics a priority, said Kundra is "on leave until further details become known " about the investigation.
And just who is going to run the Internet now? God, unless you've cheated on your taxes, it's pretty impossible to get a stable job with those folks over at the White House.
Jim Newell is open to bribery for his work at Wonkette and IvyGate.
