Two former executives of a South Ozone Park nonprofit last week avoided jail time as they were sentenced for conspiring to steal funds from the organization in 2013, according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Chan Jamoona, 68, and daughter Veda Jamoona, 30, were convicted last November for trying to take more than $50,000 from a lunch program for senior citizens run by the nonprofit United Hindu Cultural Council of USA North America Inc. by falsifying documents with another defendant, the Richmond Hill caterer for the program who admitted to giving kickbacks to the family.
Chan Jamoona was sentenced to five years’ probation and a $45,000 fine; Veda was sentenced to three years’ probation and a $5,000 fine. Steven Rajkumar, owner of Sonny’s Roti Shop on Liberty Avenue, pleaded guilty in June, 2013, to first-degree falsifying business records and was sentenced to a conditional discharge and restitution of $25,000.
According to Schneiderman and city Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters, the Jamoonas schemed to steal money from the city Department for the Aging by submitting false monthly Contract and Service Invoice Reports to DFTA containing inflated numbers of seniors receiving lunches at the council’s senior center, and inflated costs of the lunches provided by Rajkumar’s roti shop.
“These defendants stole from the senior center lunch program, putting personal greed ahead of the basic needs of New York seniors,” Schneiderman said. “When it comes to services vital for our seniors, we cannot accept fraud as a cost of doing business. My office will prosecute fraud in critical New York programs to the fullest extent of the law.”
Schneiderman encouraged anyone with additional information on the case or any other public corruption to contact his office at (800) 996-4630.
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
