Mass. firm to settle false-claims charges

BOSTON – A Massachusetts environmental-services company has agreed to pay more than $650,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging it submitted false bills and records on multiple public contracts for sewer, storage tank and catch-basin cleaning, maintenance and repair, and illegally discharged sewage and wastewater, outgoing Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last month.
A complaint filed by Coakley alleged that Dedham, Mass.-based National Water Main Cleaning Co. violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act in connection with contracts it held with Waltham, Framingham and the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. The complaint also alleges that the company violated the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act by discharging sewage and wastewater into state waters without a valid permit.
The complaint alleged the company improperly billed Waltham and the commission for disposal of waste removed from sewers, catch basins, manholes and pipes under a 2008 contract with Waltham, and for sewer work in several Boston neighborhoods under contracts from 2008 to 2010 with the BWSC. •