Metro

‘No-$how’ Ratner woe

An executive for one of New York City’s top developers testified yesterday that the firm handed a Yonkers political crony what amounted to a $5,000-a-month no-show job.

Forest City Ratner – whose Big Apple projects include Brooklyn’s controversial Atlantic Yards development – hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing but is featured in the fed’s ongoing Yonkers corruption case.

Scott Cantone, FCR’s senior VP for government affairs, testified in Manhattan federal court that the firm hired then-Yonkers Republican Party chairman Zehy Jereis as a “consultant” in 2006 because Jereis was the only one who could swing a key vote their way to push through a stalled $650 million mixed-use development called “Ridge Hill.”

When asked by prosecutors if FCR would have hired Jereis – who had no real estate experience – if he didn’t convince then-Councilwoman Sandy Annabi to change her vote, Cantone said “it’s hard to say, but probably not.”

Jereis was hired by FCR to seek potential development sites and provide “government relations” services, Cantone said.

However, Cantone added that Jereis was canned after three months – during which he was paid $15,000 – once the firm learned Jereis was the focus of a federal corruption probe. The contract was supposed to be for one year.

Jereis collected his salary despite failing to document work done in invoices submitted to the company until March 2007, when the feds began dropping subpoenas as part of the investigation.

Cantone said he was not familiar with any of the work Jereis listed in the later invoices.

When asked if Jereis ever brought anything of “value” to FCR, Cantone said, “Besides providing access to … Annabi, nothing at all.”

Jereis and Annabi are both fighting bribery and corruption changes.

Annabi is accused of accepting more than $166,000 in bribes through Jereis to vote in favor of Ridge Hill and another Yonkers development.

Bruce Bender, who was Cantone’s boss until resigning earlier this month, is also set to testify in the case.

Besides being highlighted in the Yonkers case, Forest City Ratner through Bender was also mentioned in another criminal complaint that led to former state Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) pleading guilty to federal corruption charges in December.

Neither Bender — whose cozy relationship with Kruger was featured in the complaint — nor any other FCR employees have been charged with wrongdoing in the case.

During yesterday’s testimony, it was also revealed that state Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn) helped broker the first meeting with Jereis and FCR officials in June 2006 at Marco Polo Ristorante in Brooklyn.