Two City Employees Charged With Soliciting Bribes

Two City Department of Transportation employees, including a high-ranking official earning $106,000 a year, were charged yesterday with soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a company handling bridge repairs.

In court documents, investigators said that in a series of secretly recorded meetings, the employees pledged to manipulate negotiations against the city’s interest and arranged to accept kickbacks.

The employees, Balram Chandiramani and Uday Shah, have been suspended without pay, investigators said. At a hearing in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Judge Marilyn Dolan Go released the two men on $500,000 bail each, posted by their wives. Judge Go ordered them to stay in the New York area.

Though no formal indictments have been filed, prosecutors said the men could face 10-year prison sentences. Defense lawyers said they would plead not guilty.