Schools

Land Deals Subject of Internal GCPS Investigation

Joe Whitley, former federal prosecutor, to lead investigation into school land deals since 1999.

, the Gwinnett County school system has launched an investigation of its land purchases.

Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks said Tuesday that Joe Whitley, a former federal prosecutor and now a private attorney, is the choice to lead a "comprehensive" independent investigation of all school system land deals since 1999. 

The Gwinnett County Public Schools  investigation is expected to take six to eight weeks.

Find out what's happening in Daculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The . The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that in four deals for school sites, developers made large, quick profits -- as much as $1 million in one day, in one case -- in selling parcels to the system for school sites.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said last week that he is considering launching his own investigation or seeing whether the Gwinnett County grand jury is interested in looking into the deals. Porter indicated that bribery would be the statute under investigation.

Find out what's happening in Daculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Wilbanks said in a statement Tuesday that since 1999, 76 of the 95 land deals have resulted in purchase prices less than the appraised value, and eight were for appraised value. In the other deals, courts forced the system to pay an average of 26 percent more than the appraised value 10 times, and 3 percent below appraisal once. The superintendent said that the process has resulted in aggregate savings of $37.5 million for all land deals.

Wilbanks has defended the system's site-selection process. However, he said he wanted Gwinnett residents to "feel the same level of assurance and trust."

Recent criminal investigations over land deals resulted in the resignation of former Gwinnett commission chairman Charles Bannister and the indictment of commissioner Kevin Kenerly. The district attorney noted that there is "some crossover" between developers in those deals and the ones mentioned in the recent news reports.

It is not known what effect this development will have on any possible grand jury investigation.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here