Former Mayor Adrian Fenty was exonerated and two of his fraternity brothers will likely be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s office for an investigation into possible perjury charges following the release of a report on yearlong independent investigation into a questionable $87 million contract. The report produced by attorney Robert Trout at the request of the D.C. Council found that most of the $87 million city parks and recreation contract was never paid to Banneker Ventures, a company with ties to two of Fenty’s fraternity brothers. Omar Karim ran the company and Sinclair Skinner was sometimes on the payroll, although he also ran Liberty Engineering and Design, which received subcontracts from Banneker. When the council found out about the deal, it stopped the payment and only about $4 million went out the door.
“This is a day of great vindication,” Skinner said Monday.
Neither Karim nor Fenty could be reached for comment Monday.
The ongoing investigation into the contract, which appeared to have been routed through the city’s independent housing authority to avoid council scrutiny, was repeatedly raised by opponents to Fenty’s re-election last summer. It helped provide substance to the accusation that Fenty’s cronies had undue access to city dollars. The report concluded that Fenty didn’t use his influence to help his fraternity brothers and instead passed the contract through the housing authority to avoid the city’s slow-moving bureaucracy.
Despite Skinner’s claim of vindication, it is yet to be seen whether he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
During the course of the investigation, Trout obtained court orders requiring Skinner and Karim to answer questions about their involvement with each other and the city. Through the course of several hearings and depositions, however, both repeatedly responded to questions by saying, “I don’t recall.”
“A reading of the witnesses’ unresponsive testimony in its entirety also raises the question whether the ‘I don’t recall’ incantation was knowingly false or designed to obstruct the investigation,” Trout wrote. “Given the limits on the investigative tools available to us as Special Counsel, we recommend that the Council refer these matters to the U.S. Attorney for further examination.”
Council members said Monday they’re likely to do so.
Skinner said he responded with “I don’t recall” when the questions extended beyond the reach of the parks and recreation contract.
“I didn’t prepare for that,” he said. “I wasn’t going to guess at questions that weren’t related to this investigation.”
