ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta says it caught three of its employees taking bribes to issue building permits. It exposes what one businessman says is one of Atlanta’s worst-kept secrets.
It's a case of city investigators blowing the whistle on city workers who allegedly take payoffs from property owners to avoid dragging their feet in performing their work as public servants.
City building inspectors stay busy in a town where new buildings are constantly under construction and old buildings are frequently under renovation. Johnny Martinez is the co-owner of Mambo Zombi, a bar along Edgewood Avenue. When renovating the bar, Martinez says it was frustratingly hard to schedule a building inspection.
"We were going back-and-forth for a solid two-and-a-half months. We paid an expeditor a certain amount of money and got that meeting within two weeks," Martinez said.
His building inspection is not believed to be part of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) report.
Martinez said the expeditor had personal connections to city employees tasked with inspecting properties and issuing permits. According to the OIG, two building inspectors and their supervisor took money from customers to incentivize city inspectors to show up on job sites.
The report describes under-the-table payments ranging from $50 to $1,200, which are often deposited into online accounts like Zelle.
"That’s the game that was being played, so we were going to play it," Martinez recalled.
Martinez said the payoff game is an open secret in the business community. He added it’s unfair not only to the business owners who allegedly pay bribes to city workers but also to those who don’t.
"When you can pay someone something on the side to get something done quickly, then that person has jumped over someone else who is following all the rules and doing it as we should," he said.
The city report says one of the three workers was fired in 2023. One resigned earlier this year. The report doesn’t state the employment status of the third employee, who apparently is disputing the allegation despite evidence to the contrary.
The OIG report says the cases have been referred to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office for prosecution. The DA's office said it's checking the status of the request.