But Lucero wasn't interested. But at a city Planning Commission meeting in November 2018, commissioners were unmoved. PG&E alleges that Kooistra and Huggins steered PG&E contracts to Bay Area Concrete and other companies controlled by Singh and Johal. Meanwhile, competing companies lost work with PG&E. PG&E bankruptcy filings from March 2019 showed that the utility owed Bay Area Concrete nearly $4 million. Kooistra resigned and his supervisor, superintendent of gas transmission and distribution Ron Huggins, also no longer works at PG&E, they said. The litigation process will make this clear in time.. PG&Es court filing alleges that Regal Rose LLC, a shell company established by Singh, was also in possession of a property in Arizona when it was transferred to Kooistra. In 2018, Singh and Johal acquired a property in Tracy in California's Central Valley and opened new facilities in Seattle and San Jose. Bay Area Concrete also said that it continued to work for PG&E as other companies fled when the utility declared bankruptcy in January 2019. In a statement, PG&E spokesperson James Noonan called the alleged actions of Bay Area Concrete "completely unacceptable.". View the profiles of people named Yadwinder Singh. The allegations track closely with the results of an investigation last year by ProPublica and the Bay City News Foundation, which found that PG&E had overlooked numerous warning signs when it hired Bay Area Concrete. As we have stated previously, PG&E will continue to hold ourselves and those that do work on our behalf to the highest ethical standards.. Four days later, he retired. In a letter to PG&E posted to the companys website, Olivero accused PG&E of falsifying accusations to avoid paying bills as the utility still owes the company a substantial sum. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Nebraska cheerleader competes by herself at state competition, but crowd doesn't let her feel alone, Update: Highway 29, Howell Mountain Road may stay closed through weekend after Napa Valley snows, Former NFL star Chad Johnson says he saved money by living inside Cincinnati Bengals stadium for 2 years, American Canyon delays warehouse amid Vallejo concerns, Homeless people to get permanent housing at former Napa motel, A plan for paid parking set to emerge in Napa three decades after meters were removed, Two arrested in Napa after crash of stolen SUV, police say, Police: Man arrested after Napa apartment break-in, Man dies in apparent Napa County drowning, Browns Valley Road homes approved by Napa City Council, Police: Man arrested after reported knife threat in Napa, American Canyon considers Chicken Guy restaurant amid drive-thru concerns, Premiere Napa Valley fundraiser brings in $3.4 million for the Napa Valley Vintners, American Canyon police arrest Napa man on assault allegation, Catnapped: Napa pet adoption van stolen with cats inside, State, federal officials take different paths trying to stop utilities from causing wildfires, Judge fines PG&E in Camp Fire manslaughter case, laments utility 'cannot be sent to prison', PG&E pleads guilty to 84 deaths in 2018 California wildfire, Millions at Risk of Slipping Into Poverty as COVID-Era SNAP Benefits Set to End, More than 300 words have been added to the English dictionary, Citizens travel to Peru's capitol Lima to protest against Boluarte, Senators react to the end of emergency SNAP benefits. According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. Corporate records unearthed by the news organizations reveal new details about the alleged schemes. PG&E hired Bay Area Concrete to dispose of waste from hydrovac trucks special vacuum trucks that use pressurized water for precise excavation. But the same morning Hayward's Planning Commission officially denied Bay Area Concrete's appeal to continue operating, a PG&E employee called 911 to report a fire in a heavily wooded area by the 115,000-volt Caribou-Palermo transmission line. Nearly two years after the deadly Camp Fire, a new era for California's utilities is still taking shape. Neither the memos nor media reports identified the employees. Ownership of that new company was later transferred to a PG&E employee who oversaw Bay Area Concrete's work in Paradise. Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh. Police shut down the site in September 2014. After contracting for the Paradise cleanup, Bay Area Concrete's annual revenue jumped from $16.5 million to $43.5 million, according to documents filed with a lease application. His office accepts new patients and telehealth appointments. "We think we got completely screwed by PG&E," Packal said. Records show that Kooistra owned another company, CCI Management LLC, which was founded in June 2019. ADVERTISINGAdvertiseObituariesWriting an ObituarySubmit an Obituary, COMPANY INFOJob OpportunitiesPrivacy PolicyTerms of Service, What to Include in Your North Bay Obituary, Crescent Moonshine: Duo delivers more than nostalgia, Thanks for Not Procreating: Making Census of the Moment. The pair were careful to keep Bay Area Concretes purchase orders low enough that Huggins would not have to seek approval from his supervisors. Bay Area Concrete appealed to continue operating, but it was unanimously rejected by the Hayward Planning Commission late in 2018. The firm was tied to illegal dumping on federally protected wetlands and had engaged in a long conflict with regulators in the city of Hayward, where Bay Area Concrete operates a dump. Bay Area Concrete stuck around and opened a new dump on PG&E property in Petaluma. The full investigation is available at ProPublica.org. In November 2013, Hayward officials received a complaint alleging that Singh and Johal had ignored the city and begun operating the recycling facility without a permit. Packal also alleged that PG&E-contracted hydrovac trucks were dumping illegally. The dumpsite proved its worth in October 2019, when a 77,000-acre blaze known as the Kincade fire broke out north of Santa Rosa. One supervisor for PG&E allegedly had his driveway paved on the power company's dime. Responsible for establishing a corporate relationship with multi-national companies, and manage salary accounts, corporate credit cards . Kooistra was interviewed in January 2020 by PG&E investigators, who confronted him with evidence of his interest in companies connected to Bay Area Concrete. A city water pollution expert warned the runoff could be contaminating San Francisco Bay. Kooistra was interviewed in January 2020 by PG&E investigators, who confronted him with evidence of his interest in companies connected to Bay Area Concrete. Olivero reached an agreement with federal prosecutors to testify against Lucero. "These guys have been a problem." PG&E did not say how much the utility believes it was overcharged by Bay Area Concrete as it continues to investigate. The facility processed the slurry waste from hydrovac trucks, special excavation equipment that uses pressurized water to dig around delicate equipment like buried gas lines or cables. T.J. Simmons, then-senior vice president of ConXtech, a neighboring business, wrote a letter to the city in 2018 to complain. Despite that, PG&E then contracted with Bay Area Concrete to play a key role in the cleanup after the Camp Fire. Packal confirmed that Kooistra lost his job over the allegations. "We were doing a ridiculous amount of volume at a much lower rate than what they could possibly have done." Soon after buying the property, Singh applied to use it to recycle concrete, but Hayward officials opposed the plan. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. In February 2020, PG&E canceled Bay Area Concrete's contracts and publicly announced its belief that the waste company had committed fraud. He graduated from GURU NANAK DEV UNIVERSITY / MEDICAL COLLEGE in 1991. Bay Area Concretes contract with PG&E was terminated, and the company is under criminal investigation. A jury convicted Lucero, and he was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh. Yadwinder Singh Brar , who is the top worker in his industry, presently lives in a luxurious area in Chandigarh and drives a Audi alongside four other luxury cars and bikes, all purchased with his . Later, the news agencies revealed a suspicious real estate transaction that connected Singh and one of the PG&E employees. City planners had fined the company nearly $60,000 and ordered it shut down. Bay Area Concrete overcharged for travel time while hauling and billed PG&E for work that was never done or was unnecessary. PG&E's filing is in response to a breach of contract lawsuit filed against the utility in October by Bay Area Concrete. They show that while the 2018 fire still burned in Paradise, an attorney for Bay Area Concrete's owners registered a limited liability company at the business address of another one of the owners' companies. For years, the owners of Bay Area Concrete Recycling had run an unlicensed dump in the city of Hayward, California. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said last year that PG&E alerted his office to the allegations against Bay Area Concrete. "You need to know what you need to do to control this dust. "We have confronted the two PG&E employees supervising BAC with the evidence that they received large sums of money and gifts from the vendor; those employees are no longer with the company," Johnson wrote. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey confirmed that PG&E contacted his office regarding the allegations and said he is waiting for further information from the utility. In 2018, Singh and Johal acquired a property in Tracy in California's Central Valley and opened new facilities in Seattle and San Jose. In response to a long list of questions, PG&E provided a brief statement that did not directly address how warning signs like the company owners' long conflict with the city of Hayward and participation in an illegal dumping operation were overlooked. Utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric accused two of its former employees of accepting bribes to funnel business to a waste-hauling company after the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history. In late 2019, PG&E learned of the alleged fraud and launched an investigation. (Another skier died on the same slope that same weekend.) The facility processed the slurry waste from hydrovac trucks, special excavation equipment that uses pressurized water to dig around delicate equipment like buried gas lines or cables. "This is in addition to avoiding the significant negative environmental impacts that trucking and processing these materials elsewhere in the state would have caused," he wrote. Huggins did not respond to written questions mailed to his home in Auburn. This February, as the news organizations began investigating, PG&E publicly accused Bay Area Concrete of defrauding the utility and bribing PG&E employees. "It is unfortunate that you decided to terminate our contract without first consulting us or making sure that your purported grounds had merit," he wrote. "We built that site in Paradise for [PG&E], growing an entire site dedicated to rebuilding Paradise," Packal said. In August 2017, Bay Area Concrete hired an environmental engineer, Tim Bauters, to oversee the process. Bauters, who would become the company's top environmental officer, brought with him impeccable credentials. PG&E first started disposing of waste in the company's Hayward yard in 2016, and the business expanded to include the cleanup of PG&E yards throughout Northern California. The new court filings show that PG&E had a longer business relationship with Bay Area Concrete than previously known. Meanwhile, Kooistra and Bay Area Concrete grew a lucrative business relationship separate from PG&E, according to records and interviews. Huggins retired, and Kooistra sold his home and moved out of state after being confronted by PG&E investigators, the counterclaim by PG&E said. Bay Area Concrete's contract with PG&E was terminated, and the company is under criminal investigation. In response to a long list of questions, PG&E provided a brief statement that did not directly address how warning signs like the company owners long conflict with the city of Hayward and participation in an illegal dumping operation were overlooked. However, on Feb. 14, he died in what investigators said was a snowboarding accident in Oregon's backcountry slopes. Bay Area Concrete hired a manager of that site, Kevin Olivero, to be its CEO. The investigation was co-published on Tuesday by ProPublica and the Bay City News Foundation. Another shell company, CCI Management, was owned by Kooistra and acted as a subcontractor for Bay Area Concrete in Paradise. "At the end of the day, this is really an illegal business that's asking to continue operating," Commissioner Gary Patton said at the meeting, "and it's been illegal since 2013.". Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. In late 2019, PG&E learned of the alleged fraud and launched an investigation. "Their accusations are wrong, and they'll wind up paying us one way or another.". That business grew substantially in November 2018, when a PG&E transmission line sparked a wildfire in Butte County that destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed 85 people. At the time, PG&E owed Bay Area Concrete nearly $4 million, according to bankruptcy filings. A powerful vacuum sucks up the slurry created in the process. It is not clear whether or how PG&E vetted Bay Area Concrete before hiring the firm. The same month, San Jose code enforcement officials cited the company for operating a recycling transfer facility without permits. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. In February 2020, PG&E canceled Bay Area Concrete's contracts and publicly announced its belief that the waste company had committed fraud. I don't know what they're going to do. The new court filings show that PG&E had a longer business relationship with Bay Area Concrete than previously known. The company is owned and managed by the husband-wife team Yadwinder Kevin Singh and Preet Johal, according to local and state documents. To pay the bribes, Singh used a series of real estate transactions involving a 5,600-square-foot home in Saratoga to transfer money to Kooistra, PG&E alleges. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said last year that PG&E alerted his office to the allegations against Bay Area Concrete. The allegations follow an investigation into PG&E contending that the company had missed warning signs when it hired Bay Area Concrete, owned by couple Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh and Preet Johal,. "PG&E has initiated an internal review to determine why this wasn't detected earlier, and we will be enhancing our protocols to ensure this doesn't happen again," a PG&E spokesperson wrote. Bay Area Concrete opened a dump in Paradise to take the waste from the cleanup. Kooistra did not respond to attempts to contact him by phone, mail or social media. In a letter to PG&E posted to the company's website, Olivero accused PG&E of falsifying accusations to avoid paying bills as the utility still owes the company a substantial sum. The complaint alleges that Huggins and Kooistra approved the overbilled work in exchange for kickbacks. According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. Anything. . According to PG&E's complaint, CCI did hauling work for Bay Area Concrete, which would submit invoices directly to PG&E. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Two days later, Kooistra quit his job, according to the complaint. In an interview, Simmons said that dust blowing into the ConXtech factory, where the company manufactures steel structures for health care facilities and office buildings, would interfere with their machinery. Rob Roth reports from Paradise. 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