Contractor sentenced for trying to bribe county employee

Madu Rajan, owner of Silverlands Services Inc., is also barred from public contracting for five years

File photo 

FREEHOLD -- A Middlesex County contractor was sentenced to probation for trying to bribe a Monmouth County employee into giving him special treatment on the job, authorities said.

In addition to the two years of probation he received, Madu Rajan, 42, of Edison, is banned from bidding on or accepting any public contracts for five years under the sentence imposed Friday by Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner, said acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.

Rajan, owner of Silverlands Services Inc., pleaded guilty on Jan. 15 to bribery in connection with a job he was performing for Monmouth County, Gramiccioni said.

He said Rajan was finishing up work in June on a contract awarded by Monmouth County to replace the heating and air-conditioning units on the roof of the Special Services Building in Freehold when he bribed the unnamed county employee.

Gramiccioni said Rajan offered the employee money to help expedite payment to his company and for documents pertaining to previous bids.

The employee, who did not accept the bribe, reported the incident to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, Gramiccioni said.

Rajan was arrested after he sent an associate to meet with the employee to deliver the bribe money concealed in a children's coloring book, the acting prosecutor said.

As part of Reisner's sentence, Rajan and any business in which he holds an interest of 5 percent or more is barred from public contracting for five years, Gramiccioni said.