Pakistani firm faces overbilling probe

Published June 13, 2003

LOS ANGELES, June 12: A Pakistani company is currently under investigation for financial misconduct on over billing millions of dollars to Los Angeles city government.

En Pointe Technologies, owned by a close relative of a former PPP commerce minister, had overbilled the city by around $3 million and no one in the bureaucracy noticed, according to an audit the city controller’s office released last week.

En Pointe was hired to provide computers, printers and other technology to offices around the city. According to the contract, the company was supposed to bill the city a fixed amount for each piece of equipment. Instead, according to the audit, the company used a variety of different mark-ups, which resulted in overbilling the city by $2.9 million. En Pointe also failed to pass along $500,000 in manufacturers’ rebates, according to the audit.

A spokeswoman for En Pointe said the company disputed the audit findings and “believes it will be able to resolve this matter to the satisfaction of the city controller.”

Since June 1997, the Los Angeles city government has paid En Pointe around $87 million.