There’s a busy building rising to the heights of office space in Rosedale and though its landlord has been accused of conspiring to profit while students in School Board 29 learned without computers, he still collects rent from that very Board.

However, there are many unanswered questions rising from the tenant list at One Cross Island Plaza.

According to sources at School Board 29, the Board of Education is still honoring a contract made with landlord Thomas Kontogiannis, who was indicted on November 1, 2000 for allegedly being at the head of a computer bid rigging scandal where millions were siphoned from city coffers.

The Board of Education is honoring this contract despite the their top investigator’s recommendation not to do so.

"We are still under contract," said Nathaniel Washington, president of District 29 whose offices are located at 1 Cross Island Plaza in Rosedale.

"Stancik recommended it but that’s the first and last I’ve heard of it," Washington said referring to an October 2000 report issued by Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District, Edward Stancik.

The building at 1 Cross Island Plaza houses School Board 29’s offices, a U.S. INS asylum office and an address for Attorney Raymond Shain.

In the report titled "Hijacked On The Technology Superhighway: The Fleecing of District 29," Stancik recommended that "the Division of School Facilities must reconsider renewing any lease" with "Thomas Kontogiannis [who] currently leases property to the Board of Education."

When asked by the PRESS if he was aware of any plans to relocate District 29’s offices, Washington said "no" and that he had no knowledge of any plans to do so.

Repeated calls to the Board of Education requesting a comment on the status of District 29’s office went unreturned at press time.

Kontogiannis, who according to court papers is the landlord of 1 Cross Island Plaza, was indicted along with five others including the former superintendent of District 29 in November of last year.

The special commissioner’s report reads, "In the fall of 1996, Celestine Miller, then superintendent of District 29 in Queens, went down the hall from her office to meet the building landlord . . . she was collecting $50,000 in a brown paper bag – one of a series of kickbacks and other financial rewards given to Miller for ensuring that the landlord and his cronies won lucrative contracts to provide computers for the district."

Mary de Bourbon, a spokesperson for the district attorney, noted "Legally, Thomas Kontogiannis has the right to continue to own
1 Cross Island Plaza. In America you are innocent until proven guilty. In the civil suit we could ask for a judgement that would include the forfeit of his assets, but we have instituted a civil suit designed to recuperate money lost from the district. If convicted, he could have to sell the building to pay off the suit."

Court papers filed by District Attorney Richard Brown in a civil lawsuit against Kontogiannis, Miller and others accused in the alleged computer scam, indicated that Kontogiannis is a "high profile real estate developer with extensive contacts and business interests not only in America but in Greece, Eastern Europe, Georgia, Russia and the Ukraine."

Questions also surround the presence of the New York Asylum Office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on the 3rd floor of 1 Cross Island Plaza.

According to the INS’ website, the New York Asylum Office has jurisdiction for asylum related matters over the State of New York excluding the jurisdiction of the Albany Sub Office, the Buffalo District Office, and the boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx.

But it remained unclear at presstime if federal officials were aware of what a Nov. 20, 2000 New York Post article called Kontogiannis’ running "afoul of the law."

"He [Kontogiannis] and an official at the U.S. Embassy in Athens were arrested by the FBI for taking bribes to provide phony U.S. visas. Both pleaded guilty, and Kontogiannis was sentenced to five years’ probation," the article stated.

According to another Post article, Kontogiannis said that he "was only trying to help a Greek national visit his dying mother in the U.S."

For the purpose of this story, the PRESS placed several unreturned calls to the Board of Ed. requesting a comment.

In addition, the PRESS attempted to contact District 29 Administrator Michael Johnson.

A representative answering the phone at the district’s offices told us that Johnson was unavailable and "out for the day."

Rosedale’s 1 Cross Island Plaza is a vital center of business in the heart of the area.

Several businesses including mortgage companies, a bank, a telecommunications company, a customs brokerage, attorneys and a union headquarters all lease space at the Rosedale office building.

Many in the area feel that the building is a "prime" location for business and the lack of affordable space in the area is what has attracted so many to the building.

There is "nowhere else to go," one observer pointed out.

According to prosecutors, nearly half of School Board 29’s contract money went into the pockets of six people indicted in November for what has been called the "financial rape" of the district.

"They cheated all of us," said District Attorney Brown just prior to last year’s arraignment.

According to the charges, in 1996, School District 29 sent forth a proposal for bids on a $1.2 million dollar contract to install computers at four separate district schools.

The allegations charged:

•Ray Shain, tenant of 1 Cross Island Plaza, an attorney and a principal of R.J. Computer Consultants.

•Kinson Tso, owner of Business Innovative Technology (BIT), the corporation awarded the computer contract.

•Eric Ruland, a paralegal for Shain’s law firm who worked at 1 Cross Island Plaza.

•Celestine Miller, former Superintendent of District 29

•William Harris, Miller’s husband

•and Thomas Kontogiannis.

Stancik’s report read, "To accomplish the financial rape of the district, Miller circumvented most of the safeguards the Board of Education has established to prevent fraud."

According to the special commissioner’s report "Miller received $50,000 in cash, payments totaling more than $10,000 toward her credit card debt, thousands of dollars in fraudulent campaign contributions and additional payoffs that included $75,000 in checks from Kontogiannis’ real estate companies to Miller’s husband."

The report went on to state that "Kontogiannis, landlord of the District 29 office, made more than $ 1.2 million in payoffs."

Following the indictments in November, Terri Thomson, Queens’ Member of the Board of Ed. called the case one of the worst ever seen.

"I was filled with a sense of outrage," Thomson said.

Thomson told the PRESS that it would be a "tragedy" if the allegations prove to be true.

All of the defendants in the case are scheduled to appear in court on March 2.

— Richard Schack contributed to the story.