Burlington County Man Sentenced For Defrauding NJDOT Out Of $4.6 Million

A Burlington County man has been sentenced to 364 days in county jail and three years of probation for falsifying bids to win four contracts worth approximately $4.6 million from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), authorities said this week. The bids were for engineering services related to bridge painting and construction projects, according to Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino.

The sentence of 62-year-old Chetan Shah, of Mount Laurel, was suspended on the condition he meet the terms of his probation. Shah and his company, S&R Engineers (S&R) each pleaded guilty on Aug. 2 to a charge of third-degree tampering with public records or information, according to Porrino.

As a result of the plea, they were each responsible for payment of $250,000, which is about how much they made off their scheme. Shah made his payment before he was sentenced.

They are both also barred for five years from doing business, either personally or through any business entity in which they have an ownership interest of 5 percent or more, with any public agency or government in New Jersey.

In falsifying the bids, Shah admitted that he “grossly exaggerated the experience and qualifications of multiple individuals who were employed or purportedly were employed by S&R,” Porrino said. This enhanced the value of the bids and resulted in them winning the contracts.

The bids would not even have been considered if Shah had been honest about the credentials of his employees, Porrino said. In addition to the four falsified contracts Shah admitted to submitting, there was a fifth contract worth $1.5 million as a result of bid misrepresentations, but that contract was put on hold as a result of this investigation.

For example, Shah represented that one employee had an associate’s degree in engineering and had performed professional services on engineering jobs for various agencies dating back to 1999. In reality, the man did not graduate from high school until 2006 and had no college degree or relevant experience on engineering projects, according to Porrino.

“Contractors like Shah who lie when bidding on government contracts cheat New Jersey taxpayers and potentially jeopardize the quality of work performed on critical infrastructure projects,” Porrino said. “This case sends a message that we will not hesitate to file criminal charges against dishonest contractors.”

“We will continue to work with the DOT to safeguard the integrity of government contracting and aggressively prosecute those who break the law to win contracts,” said Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig. “We urge anyone who has information about fraud in government contracting to contact us confidentially at 866-TIPS-4CJ.”

“The New Jersey Department of Transportation demands our contractors have the necessary skills and ability to do the critical work of keeping the state’s highways and bridges in a state of good repair,” NJDOT Commissioner Richard T. Hammer said. “We have zero tolerance for contractors who abuse the public trust for their own benefit and potentially endanger those who rely on our transportation infrastructure every day.”

The attached image of Chetan Shah was provided by the Attorney General’s Office