Monday, November 16, 2009

Perjury at NYCERS - Trustees sleeping

November 16, 2009 - This is an update on the DOI perjury investigation of the NYCERS HR director, Felita Baksh (aka Ramsami). Listed below are letters between the NYCERS trustees and myself with respect to this investigation.

It is clear from the letters, that the trustees are ignoring this issue. I thought the November 3, 2009 election would have provided the trustees with a date for action. They are, however, still allowing this woman to put the agency at risk.

This year Baksh again lied under oath. NYCERS is currently trying to terminate a long time employee because she allegedly incorrectly claimed to have completed three cases on a weekly production report. This employee had previously reported the agency to DOI. That did not make the current executive director happy.

At a disciplinary hearing at OATH for this employee, Baksh lied about a conversation she had with the employee. Since it was a two person conversation, she felt free to deny saying what the employee claimed she had said. The employee, however, had the good sense to record the conversation unbeknownst to Baksh. There is now evidence of two instances of perjury by Baksh.

NYCERS had the nerve to threaten the employee with disciplinary charges for recording the conversation. You can’t make this stuff up. Of course, the NYCERS legal director, Mazza, was involved with the OATH hearing, so anything is possible. This was months ago and there is still no decision from OATH. That is not a good sign.

For the record, this savvy employee also has an EEO action against the agency which is moving into a trial stage. In light of my recommendation to the trustees to put Baksh on paid leave while the investigation is going on and their refusal to do so, it is disturbing that NYCERS felt it necessary to put this employee on paid leave for the last nine months along with a 30 day suspension without pay. Remember perjury is a criminal charge.

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        August 12, 2009

Greg Floyd, President – Teamsters Local 237
Trustee, NYCERS Board of Trustees
216 West 14th Street 
New York, NY 10011

        Pub. Adv. Case #: 140753

Dear Trustee:

 This is a follow up to a letter I sent to most of the trustees in March, 2009.
The original letter provided the trustees with evidence of perjury by the current NYCERS HR director, Felita Baksh.

 Only one of the trustees, the Public Advocate, took any action with respect
to this evidence. The Public Advocate forwarded the charge to the Department of
Investigation (DOI) for its review and notified me of her action. 

 As of today, I have received no notice of any subsequent action in this case.
As reference, I am enclosing a copy of a May 9, 2009 letter that I sent to DOI 
Concerning this matter. Please notify me of the status of this investigation.

 In the interim, the trustees should immediately place the HR director on
administrative leave, since this is a criminal matter and the investigators already have clear evidence of the crime (an audio tape of DOI sworn testimony)
in their possession.



        Sincerely yours,



        John J. Murphy



Cc:  Ms. Susan Edelman, NY Post

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THE CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL COUNSEL 1 CENTRE STREET. ROOM 614 NEW YORK, N.Y. 10007-2341 TELEPHONE: (212) 669-2048 FAX NUMBER: (212)815-8714 WILLIAM C. THOMPSON, JR. OMPTROLLER Lewis Finkelman DEPUTY COMPTROLLER FOR LEGAL AFFAIRS/GENERAL COUNSEL August 19, 2009 John J. Murphy Dear Mr. Murphy: I write in response to the letter that you mailed to the Comptroller on August 14ft and that was forwarded to me yesterday, regarding your allegations of perjury by Felita Baksh, a current employee of NYCERS. Your initial letter to the Comptroller in March 2009 regarding this matter was also referred to me and, at or about that time, I promptly contacted the Department of Investigation ("DOI") and forwarded your letter to that agency for its handling. Your most recent correspondence makes clear that you have referred this matter to DOI as well. Accordingly, you should follow up directly with DOI as to the status of its investigation of this matter. Very truly yours, Lewis Finkelman LF/lm

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August 23, 2009 Mr. Lewis Finkelman Office of General Counsel Office of the Comptroller 1 Centre Street, Rm. 614 New York, NY 10007 Pub. Adv. Case #: 140753 Dear Mr. Finkelman: Thank you for your August 19, 2009 letter in which you acknowledge my March 20, 2009 letter to the Comptroller and notifying me that you had referred the reported perjury charge to DOI. The Public Advocate had already promptly notified me in an April 29, 2009 letter that she had referred this work related perjury charge against the NYCERS HR director to DOI. The Public Advocate also sent me a copy of her April 14, 2009 letter to Rose Gill Hearn. The purpose of my August 12, 2009 letter to the NYCERS trustees was to find out the status of that investigation. It would appear from your August 19, 2009 letter that you also do not know the status of that investigation. DOI has never given me any acknowledgement of this matter in spite of my Direct correspondence to Rose Gill Hearn or Richard Sullivan. The Comptroller, as a NYCERS trustee, is employing this person as the NYCERS HR director. This is while she is under investigation for perjury with respect to her official duties at NYCERS. DOI has the audio tape on which she intentionally lied under oath while being interviewed by DOI in 2004. As a NYCERS fiduciary, the Comptroller should be protecting the fund from this employee. He has hard evidence that this employee committed perjury. I strongly recommended that the trustees place this employee on administrative leave until the investigation is completed. I also request that you notify me whether you adopt this recommendation and, if you don’t, why not. DOI can not provide the trustees with protection from misdeeds by this employee while she is under investigation. The fact that DOI is possibly complicit in the perjury charge makes this action more imperative. In 1986, the trustees dealt with perjury in a rapid and ruthless manner. Why Such a casual attitude now? Sincerely yours, John J. Murphy Cc: Mr. Michael Barbaro, NY Times

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