Lawsuit: Ansaldo Padding Rail Contract

HNN: John McCaughey quit as the head of Ansaldo Honolulu's construction safety program in July because he thought the company was jeopardizing workers' safety.

In a lawsuit filed last week, McCaughey said the company -- which is being paid $1.4 billion to build the trains and operate them -- cut corners by not hiring the required safety experts.

"It's absolutely prevalent throughout Ansaldo joint venture. They do not have adequate staffing to meeting the requirements of this project," said McCaughey....

McCaughey also says the company required him to do thousand of hours of work for Ansaldo's Italian parent -- work unrelated to safety on Honolulu's rail line....

Joseph Rosenbaum, McCaughey's attorney, questions whether some taxpayer money meant for the rail project is being diverted to other Ansaldo divisions outside of Hawaii.

"It's clear that they were not staffing the project. So therefore where is that money going? Where is that money going that should have been spent on the safety and personnel," he said.

read ... Whistleblower

CB: Whistleblower Lawsuit Filed Against Honolulu Rail Contractor 

PDF: Full Text of McCaughey vs Ansaldo (As filed Oct 1, 2015 in Oahu 1st Circuit.  Withdrawn and re-filed in Federal Court Oct 6.)