Tunnel Firm Official OKd False Papers, Agent Says : Metro Rail: Court documents allege that company knew it had not met specifications on subway project. Spokesman for firm says ‘there has been no violation of law.’

A construction company official signed false statements saying his firm’s work on Los Angeles subway tunnels met contract specifications, a federal agent said in court documents released Wednesday.

And records seized in raids Tuesday on four of the firm’s offices will show that the company decided to use substandard materials in tunnel construction, U.S. Department of Transportation Special Agent Daniel P. O’Malley said in an affidavit for a search warrant.

Federal agents Tuesday raided four offices of Shea-Kiewit-Kenny--the joint venture building the troubled tunnels--carting off boxes of documents in a widening criminal investigation of the multibillion-dollar project.

As part of that probe, O’Malley said, he reviewed several statements that project manager Robert Gordon had signed certifying that work on the tunnels beneath Hollywood Boulevard and Vermont Avenue was up to specifications--certifications required for the contractor to receive periodic payments from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“Based upon my investigation to date, I believe these statements to be false,” O’Malley said.

Business and accounting records kept at the company’s four offices “will include documents reflecting the decision to use substandard wooden wedges” and other materials that did not meet contract specifications in the tunnel support system, O’Malley said.

A spokesman for Shea-Kiewit-Kenny said Wednesday that “there has been no violation of law.”

“At most, this is a construction dispute that should be resolved under the administrative procedures provided for in the contract,” the spokesman said.

The federal government has provided about half the funding for the $5.8-billion subway.

Federal and MTA agents converged Tuesday on the Shea-Kiewit-Kenny field office at Barnsdall Park, near a giant sinkhole that appeared in the street above the project a few weeks ago. They also raided a Hollywood Boulevard office belonging to the firm and two offices of the joint venture’s managing partner, J.F. Shea Co. in Walnut.

The investigation centers on the contractor’s use of less-expensive wood wedges rather than steel struts to support the tunnels during initial construction.

The MTA allowed the contractor to use a combination of wooden wedges and a prepackaged mortar to build the tunnel supports--a combination that would have provided enough strength to support excavation--but Shea-Kiewit-Kenny deviated from that design, O’Malley said in his affidavit.

When project engineer Shelley Burg of Shea-Kiewit-Kenny learned that wooden wedges meeting specifications were not readily obtainable, O’Malley said, she was “told by Gordon to purchase the substandard wedges.”

In addition to using the inferior wedges, O’Malley said, the contractor at times filled expansion gaps between concrete segments with wood and other “muck” because using the specified materials “would have taken too much time, and would have slowed the progress of the tunneling crew.”

Subpoenaed documents show that the contractor has no invoices for materials called for in building the tunnel supports, O’Malley said.

Use of the wooden wedges came under fire after portions of Hollywood Boulevard sank up to 10 inches last year, shutting down the project for nearly five months. The sinkage prompted federal officials to suspend funding for the region’s largest public works project and resulted in hundreds of claims and lawsuits by businesses.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, an engineering firm retained by the MTA, concluded that the wood was installed improperly and that the required concrete material was not placed around it. Representatives of the inspection-management firm of Parsons-Dillingham last year also accused the tunnel builder of deliberately concealing deficient work from inspectors.

In a related development Wednesday, the MTA again hired Wiss, Janney--this time to investigate the cause of the giant sinkhole that appeared June 22.

MTA Chief Executive Officer Franklin E. White announced that the Chicago firm will review the tunneling plan developed by Shea-Kiewit-Kenny and approved by the transit agency’s design and engineering consulting company. Wiss, Janney, which will be paid $50,000, also will examine whether the tunnel contractor was following the approved plan when a broken water main left the 70-by-70-foot crater in the street.

“We must look at the sinkhole incidents from all angles to determine what went wrong, what could have been done better and how we can avoid such problems in the future,” White said.

Times staff writer Rich Simon contributed to this report.