An Indian-origin man has pleaded guilty to taking USD 2.5 million in bribes and kickbacks from companies seeking contracts to work on energy-saving projects in the US government buildings. Bhaskar Patel, 67, of Windermere, Florida, received the bribes and kickbacks when he served as a senior project manager for Schneider Electric Building Americas, based in Andover, Massachusetts. He was responsible for obtaining bids from subcontractors and recommending for selection the subcontractors that would be awarded a contract under an energy-saving project.

The payments were associated with federal energy savings performance contracts issued to Schneider Electric by various federal agencies from June 6, 2011, to April 19, 2016. He pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Rutland to two felony charges, each carrying maximum penalties of 10 years in prison. He remains free on his personal recognizance pending a December 7 sentencing hearing. Judge Geoffrey Crawford said federal probation officials would conduct a pre-sentence investigation before he formally hands down a sentence for Patel. As part of a plea agreement, federal prosecutors filed a notice of forfeiture totalling USD 2,536,119 from Patel, VT Digger, a Vermont news portal, reported.