or Erskine removed the fraudulent complaint and approved the reduction requested thereon by forging the initials of one of the commissioners on the file beneath his own and then placed it among other legitimately approved reduction files for entry into the computer and other routine processing, including the mailing of notification of the reduction to the taxpayer, by other board employees who were unaware of the scheme. In exchange for a reduction of the quadrennial assessment, taxpayers who participated in the scheme paid a cash "fee" of approximately one-half of the first year's tax savings, which was then divided between the runner and the deputy commissioner who authorized it.
Ottinger testified, as an adverse witness, that he and Larry Kelly, one of Lavin's runners, had been close friends as1977 assessment. He called Kelly who assured him  again without explanation or any request for documentation to support the reduction  that he would "take care of it." Shortly thereafter, he received a notice from the board that the previous year's reduction had been restored. He did not know of Lavin's involvement *509 in securing the lowered assessment and, in fact, did not even meet Lavin until late 1977 when Kelly introduced him as "Judge Lavin" at a chance meeting in a bar. He first learned that Lavin had been employed by the board in spring, 1978 when Lavin came to the dealership and completed a financial statement necessary to secure financing for a new car he wished to purchase which contained his employment history. Lavin then