An MTA HR staffer has been accused of taking cash bribes from people in exchange for jobs with the MTA. Ronica Ganesh, 28, is suspected of telling applicants she could get them entry-level subway mechanic positions for at least $1,000. Officials also believe she may have fudged applicants' test scores for an additional $500. She denied the allegations to the News, and implied a vaster conspiracy behind the accusations: "These are false allegations...There was somebody who was harassing me."
A subway car inspector, Jerry Zachariah, is also a target of the investigation, though his role is less clear. The investigation started after several workers who were laid off due to budget cuts complained that they had paid her for the jobs...and wanted their bribes back. Then, other laid-off workers began complaining that they had lost their jobs to make room for the pay-for-hire workers. Ganesh, who makes about $60,000 a year as an analyst in the MTA's NYC Transit Division, got her job through her father, who is a superintendent in the car equipment department, earning about $100,000 a year.
It sounds to us like there's a seed in this story for a mid-level Coen Brothers black-comedy. Best of all, the News also spoke to a man who identified himself as her brother, and he said poignantly, "She's such a dummy if it's true."
