Opinion ID: 525194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the columbian allegation

Text: 16 On May 23, 1985, following the completion of a preliminary investigation, Deputy Attorney General D. Lowell Jensen 7 filed an application with the special division of the court requesting the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate the so-called Columbian Allegation against Donovan. 17 The substance of the Columbian Allegation centered on the accusation that Donovan, as vice-president of Schiavone Construction Company, (SCC), allegedly demanded and received a kickback from Columbian Steel Company. In 1976-1977, Donovan negotiated a contract for Columbian to broker steel (Hodgson Steel & Ironworks was to supply the steel) for a New York City subway construction project. Columbian submitted a low bid of $522 per ton of steel delivered to the job site. Schiavone Construction Company participated in the project as part of a joint venture and Donovan was responsible for procurement of construction materials. The kickback agreement was allegedly structured as follows: of the $522 per ton of steel charged for delivery to the job site, $490 was allocated to Hodgson, $10 per ton to Columbian as agent and the remaining $22 per ton to Donovan as a kickback. If true, the kickback arrangement may have contradicted Donovan's sworn congressional testimony, and grand jury testimony given in the earlier Independent Counsel investigation. 8 18 The principal witness against Donovan was Gerald Meyer, the president and co-owner of Columbian. At the time of the Donovan investigation, Meyer had been convicted and was awaiting sentencing on felony charges unrelated to the investigation. The F.B.I. uncovered the Columbian Allegation in the course of its investigation into whether Columbian Steel was making illegal payments to public officials in New York and New Jersey. The F.B.I. first learned of the Columbian Allegation in its interviews of Ronald Singer, co-owner of Columbian. 9 Singer did not have first-hand knowledge of the kickback agreement and Meyer refused to be interviewed by the F.B.I. Application of the Attorney General, at 3-4 (May 23, 1985); see also Report of the Independent Counsel at 4-10 (October 22, 1987).