Chief Information Officer Is Quietly Reinstated

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

Vivek Kundra, who was on leave from his new appointment by President Obama as the federal government’s chief information officer, has been reinstated, the White House said today.

White House officials confirmed to The New York Times that Mr. Kundra had been reinstated today; it was first reported this afternoon by Techpresident.com without confirmation.

The reinstatement comes a few days after F.B.I. agents had raided his former office at the District of Columbia’s technology department. Mr. Kundra was not a target of the raid. A former employee of his, Yusuf Acar, has been charged with bribery. The F.B.I. said that Mr. Kundra was not implicated in the bribery case, but he took a leave from his new federal job anyway.

The reinstatement comes as word was swirling around the Internet about a youthful arrest of Mr. Kundra for a theft involving something of less than $300 in value. Asked if Mr. Kundra had revealed the arrest during the White House vetting process, officials said they would not discuss the process but pointed out that the reinstatement should speak for itself.


Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/chief-information-officer-is-quietly-reinstated/

[RamboLiberal]

1. On the theft charge - he was 21 at the time

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Kundra pleaded guilty in Maryland District Court in Rockville to theft of less than $300 on Aug. 27, 1996. Maryland court records show he was sentenced to supervised probation, 80 hours of community service within the following six months and fined $500, of which $400 was suspended. He had to pay $155, including court costs.

Almost a year later, his attorney Gary L. Segal applied for reconsideration and got the disposition changed to "probation before judgment," which Segal said is technically not a conviction in Maryland.

"Probation before judgment is a disposition available in Maryland for minor offenses like misdemeanors. It means that if he were asked if he had ever been convicted of a crime, he could say `no,'" Segal said in an interview Tuesday.

Judges are often willing to make such a change in disposition once a defendant has complied with probation provisions, according to Segal, who said he had no memory or records of the case but had reviewed the court's computer records of it.

It could not immediately be learned from court records what Kundra stole. Gary Cranford, supervisor at the Maryland District Court records center in Annapolis, Md., said the paper case file, which would contain such details, was not in the box that was supposed to contain it. Neither Cranford nor court officials in Rockville were able to locate the file Tuesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_AIDE_GUILTY_PLEA?SITE=CAANR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[sattahipdeep]

2. Kundra reinstated....Recorded conversation?

Former DC technology office worker ordered to remain jailed after arrest on corruption charges

....
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola ordered Acar held Tuesday, saying he was struck by a recorded conversation, cited in court documents, in which Acar says he would flee to his native Turkey if he was caught.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008875424_dcofficefbi.html


Vivek Kundra has returned to duty as federal chief information officer. A White House source confirmed late today that Kundra is back on the job.

Kundra had taken a leave of absence late last week after the FBI arrested a former employee of his at the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer and a contractor on bribery charges related to contract fraud.

More details to come.

http://fcw.com/articles/2009/03/17/kundra-reinstated.aspx