Nassau County Official Resigns Amid Controversy Raised By Newspaper Report

After four years in office as Nassau County Director of Business and Economic Development, Kamlesh Mehta, 55, resigned Oct. 1, in the midst of a Newsday investigation into his record in office as well as into his private businesses.

In September, the newspaper filed two Freedom Of Information Requests with Nassau County for records of Mehta’s work in office as well as his role in presenting honorary proclamations to the Indian American community, but it did not receive responses by the time Mehta resigned.

The paper however, delved into Mehta’s private business dealings since the1990s, and reported that the businessman had declared bankruptcy at least twice and had been sued by at least two business associates.

It also reported that Mehta had links to local restaurateur Harendra Singh who was recently charged with alleged fraud and bribery relating to two beach concessions in Oyster Bay. Singh has pleaded not guilty.

There are no charges against Mehta for any of his private business dealings. As for his work as director of business and economic development, Nassau County Attorney Carnell Foskey gives him a clear chit.

Responding to Newsday inquiries in an email, Foskey says Mehta had ‘”fulfilled his job duties” during those four years. Mehta’s primary responsibility was to help existing businesses and attract new businesses to the County.

Foskey’s office would not respond to inquiries from Desi Talk and referred it to Nassau County Communications Director Brian Nevin, who did not return calls as this went to press.

The Newsday account hints at alleged business improprieties and influence peddling by Mehta and questions on what grounds he was appointed to the $79,000 job by County Executive Edward Mangano.

It also paints the Indian-American community in an unfavorable light, prone to wanting favors and enamored of those in high places. This, despite the Indian-American community being the highest educated, highest earning group in this country.

Born and brought up in Beawar, Rajasthan, Mehta started his diamond business in Mumbai before moving to New York in 1986 according to a September 2011 report by the Indo Asian News Service.

Before Mangano appointed him to his latest position in September 2011, Mehta was deputy director in the Nassau County Office of Economic Development since January 2010.

He was appointed deputy director when Mangano got elected by a thin margin over his opponent, a two-term incumbent. According to Newsday, Mehta boasted to Indian-Americans that he was responsible for getting those few votes that catapulted Mangano to office, which even if not true, is not an offense.

In the American political landscape, it is common practice for a victor to reward those who supported him. Alongside his job at the County office, Mehta also continued to work in the diamond business, and publishes The South Asian Times newspaper.

So far the Newsday account alludes to guilt by association and alleged bad business dealings, and portrays Mehta as acting from hubris. It also drags his family into the mix leaving it to readers to impute wrongdoing where none may exist.

In the article, Newsday says Mehta’s daughter Apurvi Mehta was hired as deputy director of the Nassau County Office of Community Development in 2011, a post with a $74,000 annual pay, which she left to join the Nassau Health Care Corp. as project manager in 2014.

Desi Talk spoke to Apurvi Mehta who works at the “Nassau Queens Performing Providing System.” She has a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University, and is one of at least four Project Managers, all of them with similar Masters degrees.

“I did not get this position through my father,” Apurvi Mehta told Desi Talk,” nor was she referred to the position by him, she added. “I applied and was interviewed by three individuals including my current supervisor and given the offer and I accepted.” She said she had not read the whole article about her father, only the section that mentioned her.

Newsday points to Mehta’s Facebook account carrying pictures of him handing out proclamations to Indian-Americans “burnishing” his image as a businessman. Quoting unnamed “associates” of Mehta, Newsday said, “Landing a job in Mangano’s administration enhanced Mehta’s stature in the Indian-American community, associates said, and he was seen as a conduit to influential county politicians.” But the report does not say if this is unusual or peculiar to this particular case, considering that political patronage pervades the entire American system.

Newsday questions why Mehta was appointed to his position despite his checkered financial past — his home was foreclosed in 1999; he filed twice for bankruptcy and defaulted on payments. There are also lawsuits filed by those he borrowed or bought goods from and allegedly did not pay back. The report also reveals that the state of New York issued a $10,827 tax warrant against Mehta’s private business this February.

Newsday calls Mehta “a close associate” of indicted Bethpage restaurateur Singh, and adds that Mangano’s office refused to comment on why he was appointed and the circumstances leading to his resignation. It also reported that records it acquired show Mehta arranged at least one financing deal for Singh.

The paper reports that diamond dealer Jagdish Agarwal of Plano, Texas, filed a lawsuit against Mehta in Nassau County Supreme Court in 2012 alleging he had not been paid $18,000 for a diamond, an allegation Mehta denied and the case was dismissed in December 2013; that a certified public accountant, Krishna Mehta sued Mehta this January for failing to repay a loan of $227, 606, for transactions dating back to the late 1990s which Mehta described as an “immature and ignorant business transaction,” on his part, Newsday reports.

When Newsday asked Mehta for an interview, he agreed with conditions – that he be sent questions in writing, that his responses be published in their entirety, and that he be given an advance copy of the story for review in case of inaccuracies. The paper refused.