Nagin, Associate, Allegedly Took CCTV Bribe

Mayor Ray Nagin

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and an associate have been accused of getting free luxury vacations shortly after Katrina hit, in exchange for giving Dell Computers a lucrative contract installing CCTV cameras in the city.

The accusation comes out of a lawsuit from former contractors Southern Electronics and Active Solutions, who allege Dell muscled its way in through bribes and connections.

The plaintiffs have produced e-mails showing former New Orleans technology chief, Greg Meffert, wanted them out and Dell in.

Greg Meffert

During his last 18 months in office, Meffert charged $130,000 to a corporate credit card belonging to Mark St. Pierre, a former vendor and associate. Included in the charges are vacation expenses for Meffert, Nagin and their families on a 2004 trip to Hawaii, along with first-class air travel for the Nagin family to Jamaica shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the city.

When Meffert left his city position in 2006, he took up a US $600,000 consultancy job with NetMethods, a company owned by St. Pierre. It was also at the same time that another company owned by St. Pierre, Veracent, signed a deal to become Dell’s camera supplier.

Southern Electronics and Active Solutions also claim that internal Dell documents show that the company was determined to break into the multi-billion CCTV market and that the hardware giant used its pals inside City Hall to muscle in on the deal.

Dell claims Southern Electronics and Active Solutions were kicked out for underperforming. Meffert and St. Pierre say they will plead the Fifth Amendment if forced to testify and that they can’t afford to pay a full-time team of lawyers for the trial which is expected to run for at least three weeks.