CONTRACTOR CONVICTED OF DEFRAUDING THE STATE

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today the conviction* after trial of Bill Hatzi, aka Vasilios Hatzianoglou, on five counts of perjury and five counts of procurement fraud, for lying in five separate bids for State construction jobs. Hatzi, who had been convicted in 1991 of Theft, failed to disclose that conviction in his Bid Affidavits even though the forms specifically requested disclosure of such convictions. Hatzi, 47, is a Baltimore City contractor who in the mid-1990's, frequently bid on State construction, maintenance and repair contracts ranging in amount from $22,000 to $92,000, for State facilities around the State. He resides in Forest Hill, Harford County.

The jobs in which the perjurious affidavits were submitted were in 1995 and 1996, at the William Donald Schaefer Tower in Baltimore City, Springfield State Hospital, Gunpowder Falls State Park, the Police and Correctional Training Commission in Woodstock, Md., and Cedarville State Forest in Prince George’s County.

In May 2002, Hatzi and his company, Power Dynamics, was debarred indefinitely by the State Board of Public Works from ever bidding on State contracts. The debarment was based on his repeated default on State contracts. His companies that were also debarred were Power Dynamics, Pallini Co. and Vastec Co., which list an address on Tolna St. or a P.O. Box in Baltimore.

Judge John Philip Miller of the Baltimore City Circuit Court tried the case without a jury at the defendant’s request, and announced his verdict late Friday afternoon. He ordered a presentence investigation by the Division of Parole and Probation and set sentencing for July 17, 2003.

The maximum sentence for procurement fraud is five years incarceration and a $20,000 fine, while the maximum sentence for perjury is 10 years.

The case was investigated by the Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Investigations Division, and the Maryland State Police.

*The conviction was reversed on appeal by judgment dated April 27, 2005.

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