Dino Bucci was elected to the Macomb Township Board.
He’s also in the hot seat beyond normal politics --he’s accused of extortion in a civil lawsuit, and is he a target of the feds as they continue their bribery and public corruption investigation in Macomb County. Bucci is finally responding to all of it -- sort of.
The questions started last October when a local businessman seeking a $150,000 permit refund from the Township sued Bucci, accusing him of wanting half of that kickback to help the businessman.
“No, that’s not true,” Bucci said in a video deposition recently given in the case. Bucci also turned the tables in the case saying it was not him who asked for cash, but rather it was offered to him by the businessman. “He offered me a $40,000 bribe to make it," Bucci testified.
Bucci was also questioned in the deposition about fellow township Trustee Cliff Freitas, who is also being charged with eight counts of bribery. Freitas pleaded guilty on June 1 to a reduced charge of conspiracy and agreed to be a witness for the feds.
Freitas got insider bid information from another elected official that Freitas took to his employer at the time, Rizzo Environmental to get a lucrative trash contract with Macomb Township.
Bucci worked since 1993 for the Macomb County Public Works Department but left in February. Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller says the feds have been to that office, obtaining documents and several employees have been called to testify to a Federal Grand Jury in downtown Detroit. “I sort of got the impression it is about Dino Bucci and Anthony Marrocco,” Miller told 7 Investigator Jim Kiertzner.
Bucci would not answer questions when asked by Kiertzner repeatedly saying, “On the advice of legal counsel, I can’t answer any questions.”
You can watch the rest of the answers in the deposition in this story. In it, Bucci testifies he’s the victim.
Bucci has not been charged with any crime. The feds never discuss an ongoing investigation.
