The alleged accomplice in the biggest corruption scandal in D.C. history is fighting to get her job back, The Examiner has learned.
Diane Gustus was immediately fired after being charged with helping fellow tax office employee Harriette Walters steal millions from the public through a series of dummy companies.
But in a Nov. 27 letter addressed to Paul Lundquist, director of the office of management and administration, Gustus, 54, says that “there is substantial evidence that I am not guilty” and that her firing is “unjust.”
“Due to confusion, misunderstanding and managerial indecisiveness, I have been arbitrarily terminated,” Gustus wrote. “I deny all charges placed against me.”
Prosecutors have alleged that Gustus and Walters used a series of front companies to shuffle millions of public dollars to themselves over at least a decade. Most of the other defendants in the case are relatives of Walters, the accused mastermind. Through her lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, Gustus has maintained her innocence, saying that while she may have approved the outgoing checks, she wasn’t aware that they were part of Walters’ criminal conspiracy.
Court documents show that while Walters and her relatives surrounded themselves in luxury goods, a search of Gustus’ home returned few items that she couldn’t afford. Gustus was only a few months from her retirement and was working a part-time job at Sears when she was arrested.
Gustus’ letter asks for a hearing on her contention that she was unfairly fired, “at which time I will prove that I am not guilty.”
It’s not clear if her union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, will back her grievance. Local president George Johnson didn’t respond to requests for comment. But Gustus’ letter is copied to her steward.
Neither embattled Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi, who supervised Gustus and Walters, nor his spokeswoman responded to requests for comment.
