BIZ BUZZ: ‘Deal-seeking’ undersecretary
On the surface, the rags-to-riches story of this Cabinet undersecretary is impressive. When he joined this department, hopes were high that such a brilliant young man would bring about positive change. After all, what administration doesn’t dream of enlisting technocrats to make this part of the world a better place?
But lo and behold! We hear that the undersecretary is instead leveraging his position to market deals for his private company—where he should have kept his hands off the first place as soon as he joined the government. An ideal civil servant he is not, several sources told Biz Buzz, lamenting what they describe as a brazen display of self-interest.
In one of those cases, the vending undersecretary tried to coax one company to hop on a project, but only as a dummy. He wants his own enterprise to be the one to execute the project behind the scenes. In other cases, he asked for a “cut”—around a third of the contract amount—from contractors/suppliers.
Will this undersecretary ever care to reverse this ill repute? We’ll keep our ears close to the ground.
