LI Man Charged As Part Of Scheme To Defraud NYC Of Millions: DOJ

NEW HYDE PARK, NY — A Long Island man was among five charged in connection with a scheme by a Queens-based construction company to scam New York City out of millions.

According to prosecutors, the group obtained contracts to do maintenance work at city shelters, and then filed false claims. Many of them are also being charged with fraudulently trying to get Medicaid benefits, prosecutors said.

“The defendants entered into public contracts so that they could provide vital maintenance to homeless shelters to aid New York City’s most vulnerable residents," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. "However, instead of honoring these contracts, the defendants allegedly concocted multiple schemes to steal public funds."

According to prosecutors, Liaquat Cheema and Ali Cheema, both of Queens, were the president and vice presidnet, respectively, of AFL Construction Co. Inc., which was located in Queens. AFL entered into public contracts with the city worth about $12 million to perform general contracting work at homeless shelters all over the city. The contracted work included maintenance, landscaping and snow removal.

However, prosecutors say that from 2014 through 2018, the Cheemas would submit false invoices to the city for work that was never done, or inflate the costs of materials for work they did complete. To date, prosecutors say AFL has been paid at least $8 million for fraudulent work.

During the same time, the Cheemas, as well as Irfan Bajwa, 42, of New Hyde Park; Shouket Chudhary, 64, and Khizar Hayat, 46, both of East Elmhurst, used several bank accounts to get the money that was fraudulently obtained and conducted financial transactions to hide the source of the money.

For example, prosecutors say that some of them had AFL issue hundreds of checks to purported workers who were fraudulently listed on documents submitted to the city, but never delivered those checks to workers. Instead, prosecutors say the group deposited the money into their own accounts.

In addition, prosecutors say that Bajwa and others scammed Medicaid out of tens of thousands of dollars by repeatedly submitting fraudulent certifications that under-reported their actual income. This allowed them to get Medicaid benefits for which they weren't eligible, prosecutors say.

Bajwa is charged with one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of health care fraud conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft. The top charge has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.