City ramps up ADI records request

CITY HALL — The City Council this week authorized city attorneys to further pursue financial records for four affordable housing projects built by a developer who allegedly bilked the city out of millions in construction overcharges.

The developer, Advanced Development & Investment Inc., is under federal investigation for allegedly transferring millions of dollars to personal accounts and submitting fraudulent bills to cities across the state.

The City Council in January approved legislative subpoenas for ADI’s financial records and documents held by David Pasternak, a court-appointed receiver hired to guard the corporation’s interests as its former president, Salim Karimi, and Jannki Mithaiwala, the daughter of company founder Ajit Mithaiwala, go through a divorce.

The city has not yet received all of the files since Jannki Mithaiwala’s attorney filed a motion seeking to block the release of forensic audit reports.

“We are trying to comply with all subpoenas, but…we are waiting for the court to hear a motion regarding that matter,” Pasternak said in an e-mail.

Following the City Council’s action on Tuesday, city attorneys now have authority to file legal action requesting enforcement of the legislative subpoenas.

“We believe we are entitled to those documents, and the receiver wants to deliver them to us,” said Chief Assistant City Atty. Mike Garcia. “We are trying to do what we can to get those documents.”

In the last five years, Glendale officials have committed nearly $34 million to ADI for four affordable-housing developments in the city’s San Fernando Road corridor.

City officials have said the records would help them investigate the alleged fraud — which Pasternak has said stretched into the millions for at least one Glendale project — and potentially pursue litigation to recover the misused city funds.