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Office of Inspector General |
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| Title: | Michigan Cement Contractor Found Guilty of Perjury and Obstruction of Justice |
| Date: | April 16, 2007 |
| Type: | Investigation |
| Summary: | On April 16, Alan Pighin, President of Century Cement, Wyandotte, Michigan, was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice charges following a 6-day jury trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Michigan. Jurors found Pighin guilty of committing 2 acts of perjury by lying under oath to a Federal grand jury when he denied: (1) paying money to City of Detroit inspectors in connection with concrete work he was performing; and (2) providing concrete work for government employees other than the driveway of a Warren, Michigan, police officer. Jurors also found that Pighin obstructed justice by asking a city inspector to falsely testify at the trial that Pighin installed a driveway at the inspector's house in exchange for masonry work to be performed by the inspector. Testimony at trial revealed that Pighin's company installed the $6,000 driveway without receiving payment.
Pighin was indicted in July 2006 following an investigation of his statements during a September 2002 grand jury appearance, and again in January 2007 in a superseding indictment, which set out the above charges. Sentencing is scheduled for August 9. This investigation is part of an ongoing OIG-FBI investigation of fraud within the City of Detroit's engineering department, which administers state of Michigan road construction contracts in the city. Pighin has been referred to FHWA for suspension and debarment proceedings. Century Cement was not charged. |