State sues ex-vendor tied to Rod Blagojevich
Anita Mahajan also is facing criminal charges
The owner of a defunct drug-testing firm with ties to ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sued Tuesday by the Illinois attorney general over allegations that she fraudulently billed the state for more than $1.3 million in drug tests that were never performed.
Anita Mahajan already was charged with fraud after an internal state investigation into the long-standing no-bid contract with her company, K.K. Bio-Science.
The company first came under scrutiny in 2006 when the Tribune reported that Blagojevich's wife, Patricia, earned more than $113,000 in commission from real estate deals involving Mahajan and her husband, Amrish, a major Blagojevich fundraiser.
The civil lawsuit by Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan alleges Mahajan knowingly billed the state from at least January 2004 until November 2006 for drug testing services it never performed for state child-custody cases. Madigan's suit asks the court for at least $3.4 million in damages and civil penalties.
