A woman with close ties to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patricia, has been indicted on charges that she bilked the state of more than $2 million for services her company never performed, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.
Anita K. Mahajan, 56, who was originally charged in March, did not speak during the brief court hearing and would not comment outside of court.
Though Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hennelly did not read the charges against Mahajan, Assistant Cook County State’s Atty. Michael Smith said outside of court that Mahajan was indicted on the theft of more than $100,000 from a government entity, a Class X felony; continuing financial crimes enterprise, a Class 1 felony; and false certification, a Class 4 felony.
Mahajan is the longtime owner and president of K.K. Bio-Science, a corporation that since the 1990s has held a no-bid contract to perform drug screenings for clients of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Prosecutors alleged that her company billed the state for more than $2 million in screenings that were never performed.
Mahajan came under government scrutiny last year following Tribune reports that Blagojevich’s wife earned more than $113,000 in commissions from real estate deals involving Mahajan and her banker husband, Amrish, a campaign supporter of the governor.
