With Opa-lockas finances nearly drained and its government facing a state takeover, local officials acted swiftly to hire the man they said could help the city survive: former finance chief Ezekial Orji.
They gave him an office at City Hall, a computer and a cadre of workers to help root out serious breakdowns in the citys budget.
I wanted him to come on board, said acting city manager Yvette Harrell.
But the man entrusted two weeks ago with planning the citys financial future had his own troubled history while previously working in Opa-locka: He once steered tens of thousands in taxpayer dollars to a close friend and contractor who had been charged with taking more than $700,000 in kickbacks.
Orji failed to disclose tens of thousands in o…
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