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WASTEWATER TREATMENT COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY TO BRIBERY

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Aqua Alliance, a water treatment company, admitted its role in bribing New Orleans Water and Sewer Board member Katherine Maraldo in return for favorable business treatment, the Justice Department announced today.

The company, formerly known as Air & Water Technologies, Inc. (AWT), pleaded guilty today to a one-count information filed in U.S. District Court in Houston charging it with bribery concerning a federally-funded program.

According to a plea agreement filed today, AWT's subsidiary, Houston-based Professional Services Group, Inc., (PSG), managed the wastewater treatment system for the city of New Orleans and its Sewerage and Water Board. From June 1993 through October 1996, AWT and PSG officials provided legal services and cash payments to Maraldo in order to influence and reward her for supporting PSG's business interests with the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board.

Among the benefits alleged was the payment of over $70,000 in cash to cover her mortgage in a real estate investment. She recommended that the Board renew PSG's contract to operate New Orleans' water system for five years rather than the one year called for in the original contract, thereby potentially locking PSG into the lucrative New Orleans market.

Last month, a federal grand jury sitting in Houston returned a 10-count indictment charging Maraldo, along with Michael Stump, William Gottenstrater, H. Grant Simmons, all former executives of PSG, and Salvador Anzelmo, an attorney retained by PSG, with one count of conspiracy, four counts of interstate travel in aid of bribery, four counts of mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud.

The proposed plea agreement with Aqua Alliance contains both parties' recommendation of a $3 million fine and calls for Aqua Alliance's cooperation in the government's ongoing prosecution and investigation of public officials. The company is scheduled to be sentenced on September 14, 2001.

The investigation leading to this prosecution was conducted by attorneys from the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice and by the Houston field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

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