Harlan Kelly, right, and Mohammed Nuru
21 January 2021
City Administrator Naomi Kelly tendered her resignation after federal authorities charged her husband, Harlan Kelly, former San Francisco Public Utilities Commission General Manager, with fraud for allegedly accepting bribes including a paid family vacation to China.
She denied the allegations. She claimed that the allegations were framed by Walter Wong, the permit expediter who cooperated with the FBI against her husband in exchange for leniency in his own federal case.
Naomi Kelly has not been charged with a crime. She was the highest ranking non-elected official in San Francisco and had overseen more than 25 departments, 2,700 employees and a $700 million annual budget. She served the City for more than two decades.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in November, Harlan Kelly gave Wong’s son’s company an edge in obtaining a multi million-dollar contract for streetlight upgrades. But the project did not go through because of the contract changes.
Wong also did $23,236 worth of water damage repair work on Kelly’s personal residence, but Kelly only paid $11,547 being the amount that his insurance company would pay, according to prosecutors.
Harlan Kelly was ordered to undergo drug testing as a condition of his release on $200,000 bond because authorities found a substance that appeared to be cocaine in his home.
Mohammed Nuru, Head of City Public Works is charged with attempting to pay a bribe of $5,000 to an airport commissioner, on behalf of a friend, to open a chicken shack in the International Airport. Nuru also got a free trip to China through Walter Wong.
Sources: SF Examiner, CourtHousenews.com
