Bovis Lend Lease probed by U.S. Attorneys

From the Daily News:

Early this month, mega-builder Bovis Lend Lease was on track to win a contract to build a new 1,200-student high school in Brooklyn.

But then came word that prosecutors had hit the Australian-based giant with subpoenaes in an expanding criminal probe of payroll and billing irregularities.

The School Construction Authority quickly rejected Bovis' $72.7 million bid, saying it will move to hire the next lowest "responsible" bidder.

That bidder has yet to be chosen, but the cost to taxpayers will jump by at least $62,000.

The cost for Bovis - one of the biggest players in the construction industry in the world - could be far steeper.

Government agencies could bar them from future contracts. Some could even cancel ongoing jobs if wrongdoing is found to have taken place at those sites.

Investigators are now scouring records to see if Bovis employees schemed to inflate bills or pay ghost employees, according to several sources familiar with probes by U.S. attorneys in both Manhattan and Brooklyn.

At the moment, prosecutors are looking at what went on at five New York City jobs, some of which are ongoing: the Sept. 11th memorial, a new wing of New York University Hospital, the new Citi Field stadium, a mall in Rego Park, Queens, and demolition of the former Deutsche Bank tower at Ground Zero, the sources said.