Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that he and City Comptroller John C. Liu have suspended Office of Payroll Administration Executive Director Joel Bondy without pay effective immediately, pending further developments in the investigation into allegations of fraud involving the CityTime project. The Office Payroll Administration, which had overseen implementation of the CityTime project, is jointly controlled by the Mayor and New York City Comptroller, as defined by the City Charter. The Mayor also announced that responsibility for implementation and operation of the CityTime system has been transferred immediately to the City's Financial Information Services Agency and detailed additional changes.

"Any violation of the public's trust is categorically unacceptable and we are implementing a series of changes to reform oversight of the CityTime project," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The investigation will continue, and as we learn more facts we will continue to keep the public updated. We will do everything possible to ensure any taxpayer dollars that were fraudulently distributed are recouped and that those who were complicit in attempting the scam the public face the full force of the law."

In addition to the suspension of Mr. Bondy and the transfer of responsibility for the CityTime project to the City's Financial Information Services Agency, the Mayor announced the following steps:

• Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith, in close partnership with the Office of the New York City Comptroller, will take direct oversight of the CityTime project.
  
  
• The Comptroller's Office, with assistance from the Bloomberg Administration, will work with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the City's Department of Investigation on a thorough forensic audit of the CityTime project to determine whether any additional dollars were improperly paid and will seek to maximize recovery of any taxpayer dollars that were improperly paid.