Mayor: City official ensnared in bribery case to take leave
Mike Morris July 12, 2017 Updated: July 12, 2017 2:35 p.m.
1of2FILE - Houston Community College Board of Trustees member Christopher Oliver (left) participates in a board meeting in downtown Houston.Photo: Houston Chronicle
2of2FILE - An undated photograph of Karun Sreerama. Sreerama was appointed Houston Public Works Director in March.Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff
Houston's Public Works director will vacate his post temporarily following revelations that he made unlawful payments to a Houston Community College trustee who is now awaiting sentencing on federal bribery charges, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Tuesday.
Karun Sreerama made $77,143 in unlawful payments to longtime HCC trustee Chris Oliver between late 2010 and mid-2013, when Sreerama owned a private engineering firm, according to court records and his attorney.
On the bribery charge, Oliver was accused of taking payments and promising to use his position to help secure contracts with the community college system.
Turner, who said he was unaware of the case prior to this week, said he has placed Sreerama on paid administrative leave while he reviews the situation.
"I am taking this action so that I may thoroughly review the information to make sure there are no further related implications for the city and him," Turner said in a written statement. "It is against everyone's best interest for a public servant to have to operate under a cloud, as Mr. Sreerama and I have discussed in a brief telephone call."
The mayor, who is travelling in Europe on city business, added, "I continue to have confidence in Karun and look forward to his return."
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The revelations about Sreerama, who has led the city's Department of Public Works and Engineering for four months, stem from an extortion and bribery case against Oliver.
The extortion count lists an individual with the initials "K.S." -- now identified as Sreerama -- as a "victim" of "extortion under color of official right" by Oliver, meaning the trustee allegedly used his position as a public official to obtain an unlawful payment.
Sreerama's attorney has said his client was the target of a "shakedown" by Oliver and cooperated with investigators after they approached him.
The acting U.S. attorney has agreed to dismiss the extortion charge against Oliver in exchange for his guilty plea on the bribery indictment, court records show.
Turner said deputy Public Works director Carol Haddock will lead the department during Sreerama's leave, returning to the role she held in the weeks before Sreerama assumed the post earlier this year.
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