Former Public Works Commissioner Ann Abramson testified in her own defense for about four hours Thursday in her District Court trial on charges relating to allegations of tax fraud, conflict of interest and taking kickbacks in connection with post-Hurricane Marilyn repair work.
Testifying as the final defense witness in the case before District Judge Thomas Moore on St. Thomas, Abramson denied any attempt to avoid taxes on $125,000 in income from the sale of heavy equipment to a contractor by one of the various companies she owns. She noted that she had deposited the funds openly into the company bank account.
Aubrey Washington, a certified public accountant, testified on Wednesday that he had made an error in preparing Abramson's tax returns. He said he had neglected to ask for that particular company's bank records when preparing her tax records for 1995 and 1996 and had thus not declared the proceeds of the sale as income. Abramson testified that when she learned the income had not been declared, she instructed Washington to file an amended return. He did so last month.
Former Property and Procurement commissioner Alvin Davis testified that Abramson did not violate federal conflict-of-interest law by selling materials from her companies to the government for school repairs. He said he felt that under the post-hurricane state of emergency declared by then-Gov. Roy Schneider, such procedures were allowable.
Abramson also denied having hired contractor Berthill Thomas to do roof repairs at the Arthur Richards Junior High School on St. Croix and the building housing the Finance Department offices on St. Thomas in exchange for kickbacks.
Architect Lionel Jacobs, assigned to assist Abramson with post-hurricane school repairs, said he had recruited Thomas to do the work and introduced him to Abramson. As for the Finance building, Abramson testified that it was then-Finance Commissioner Gwendolyn Adams who hired Thomas, although she, Abramson, had recommended him to Adams.
According to Abramson, $6,500 that the government alleges she received from Thomas as a kickback for getting him the Finance building contract was the repayment of a loan. She also testified that she did not question invoices from Thomas submitted for her approval, although he was contracted to work for $35 an hour and was billing at $175 an hour. She said she assumed that Public Works administrative personnel would deal with any inaccuracies before invoices reached her for approval.
Thomas and Abramson stood trial together earlier this year on indictments related to post-hurricane repair work. The jury deadlocked on nine charges against Abramson, convicted Thomas of three charges each of making a false statement and making false claims to a federal agency, and acquitted him of attempted bribery of a public official.
A grand jury subsequently handed up a superseding 15-count indictment, the basis of the current trial, which included six new charges against Abramson and two against Thomas.
On Monday, Thomas entered a guilty plea to one count of making a false statement in return for the other charges against him being dropped.
Following closing prosecution and defense arguments, the case was expected to go to the jury today.
