FBI Orders Warren To Turn Over Records For Lucrative Trash Contracts
WARREN (CBS Detroit) Saying he's proud of his record of "honesty, transparency and forthrightness," Warren Mayor Jim Fouts announced Wednesday a federal grand jury had issued a subpoena for records related to purchases by Gust Ghanum, Warren's assistant public services director.
The records are tied to millions spent on new garbage trucks and a lucrative trash disposal contract.
Specifically, the subpoena, which Fouts released, orders Warren to give the FBI:
- Any and all records from Jan. 1, 2008 to now regarding the purchase of waste hauling trucks by Warren, and the purchase or acquisition of any parts for those trucks, including tires.
- Any and all electronic communication, including emails, which Ghanam sent, received or was copied on from Jan. 1, 2008, to the present.
- Any and all records regarding any contract between Warren and Detroit Renewable Energy and/or Detroit Renewable Power, including internal reports and communications, emails and memos related to vendors.
"All of the records requested were forwarded to the grand jury on August 22, 2012, the deadline set by the grand jury," Fouts said in an email. "We have and will continue to cooperate with the grand jury by supplying all records that are requested."
Fouts went on to reassure the public that all his appointees "must share (my) sense of honesty."
"If any mayoral appointee is indicted resulting from this subpoena, he or she will be terminated immediately," Fouts wrote. "The appointee will not be suspended but will be terminated."
