Indian-American CEO of IT company pleads guilty to bribery in the US

An Indian-American former chief executive officer of an IT company on Thursday pleaded guilty for his role in orchestrating a scheme to bribe an official from the city of Detroit, federal prosecutors said.

Parimal Mehta, 54, a former CEO of FutureNet Group Inc, according to guilty plea, between 2009 and 2016, hand-delivered more than USD 6,500 to Charles L Dodd, the former Director of Detroit's Office of Departmental Technology Services.

This includes two cash bribes paid in the restroom of a Detroit area restaurant in 2016.

Dodd previously pleaded guilty to bribery on September 27, 2016.

Mehta pleaded guilty to one count of federal program bribery before US District Judge Robert Cleland of the Eastern District of Michigan.

The sentencing in the case is scheduled for September 27.

According to the plea agreement, Mehta sought preferential treatment for information technology company FutureNet in exchange for the bribes he paid to Dodd.

Among other things, Mehta asked Dodd to cause FutureNet to be selected to fill open positions for contract personnel and to implement particular technological projects in various city departments.

Mehta also asked Dodd to supply him with confidential information regarding Detroit's internal operations, including information regarding Detroit's internal budgets for particular technology projects and personnel, which would benefit FutureNet in its dealings with Detroit.